How to Remember What You Forget
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Imaging may be more effective than other techniques because it relies on
automatic memory, a primitive component of memory that doesn't decline with age.
Using this technique, you might, for example, imagine taking your pills right
after you drink your morning glass of orange juice. The next day at breakfast
taking a sip of orange juice will "automatically" cue you to take your
medication.
Comment: We think the experiment they did is absolutely wonderful.
Read about it (below).
PS: We take a sip of grapefruit juice with our vitamins every morning.
It works, unless we forget to pour a glass of juice.
Barbara K. Hecht,
Ph.D.
Frederick Hecht, M.D.
Medical Editors, MedicineNet.com
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"Imagination" Helps Older People Remember to Comply with Medical
Advice
A healthy dose of "imagination" helps older people remember to take
medications and follow other medical advice, according to a new study supported
by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of
Health.
Researchers found older adults who spent a few minutes picturing how they
would test their blood sugar
were 50 percent more likely to actually do these tests on a regular basis than
those who used other memory techniques. The findings by Linda Liu, Ph.D., of the
University of Michigan, and Denise Park, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, appear in the June 2004 issue of Psychology and Aging. The
researchers are part of the CACHET Center at the University of Michigan and the
Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Illinois. Both are NIA-supported
Roybal Centers for Applied Gerontological Research, which focus on research of
immediate clinical value.
"This is an innovative study. It presents an unusual but apparently very
effective way to use imagination as a memory tool to help older adults more
successfully follow medical instructions," says Jeffrey Elias, Ph.D., of
the NIA's Behavioral and Social Research Program. "The best medical care in
the world isn't much good if a patient can't or won't follow through. Creative
approaches such as this one need to be explored further if we are to solve
difficult medication adherence problems. The genius of this method is that it
requires less conscious effort than other memory methods. So, it can be easily
learned and applied."
For the study, Liu and Park taught 31 non-diabetic
volunteers to do home blood glucose tests. The researchers chose individuals who didn't have diabetes in order to simulate the
learning conditions faced by someone who is newly diagnosed with a disease. In addition, because the blood glucose monitors recorded
time- and date-stamps each time a test was conducted, it allowed the researchers
to collect very accurate data. The participants, ages 60 to 81, were
randomly assigned to one of three groups and told to monitor their blood sugar
levels four specific times daily. They were not allowed to use timers, alarms or
other devices.
Those in the implementation group, defined by the investigators as an
"imagination" intervention, spent one 3-minute session visualizing
exactly what they would be doing and where they would be the next day when they
were scheduled to test their blood sugar levels. Those in the
"rehearsal" group repeatedly recited aloud the instructions for
testing their blood. Finally, those in the "deliberation" group were
asked to write a list of pros and cons for testing blood sugar.
Over the next 3 weeks, participants in the implementation group remembered 76
percent of the time to test their blood sugar at the right times of the day
compared to an average of 46 percent in the other two groups. Those in the
implementation group were far less likely to go an entire day without testing
than those in the other two groups. Although the effects observed in this study
were large, NIA scientists note, further studies will be need to be conducted to
replicate the findings more generally.
"Getting older people to remember to take their medications and conduct
self-monitoring tests is a huge issue," Dr. Park says. "Although many
strategies have been tried, none appears to be as potent or as simple as using
one's own imagination. This study shows it's a powerful and incredibly
inexpensive technique with potentially lasting effects."
Dr. Park suspects that using imagination may be more effective than other
techniques because it relies on automatic memory, a primitive component of
memory that doesn't decline with age. Using this technique, you might, for
example, imagine taking your pills right after you drink your morning glass of
orange juice. The next day at breakfast taking a sip of orange juice will
"automatically" cue you to take your medication.
"It's not an explicit thought," Dr. Park says. "It's not as if
you think, `Ah, ha! I remember to take my pills now.' It's more that the orange
juice provides an unconscious prompt to, 'Take your meds, take your meds.'
"
Source: National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov)
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