How they can cause memory loss: benzodiazepines dampen activity in key parts of the brain, including those involved in the transfer of events from short-term to long-term memory.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom indeed, benzodiazepines are used in anesthesia for this very reason. When they're added to the anesthesiologist's cocktail of meds, patients rarely remember any unpleasantness from a procedure.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom midazolam (versed) has particularly marked amnesic properties.

Alternatives: benzodiazepines should be prescribed only rarely in older adults, in my judgment, and then only for short periods of time.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom it takes older people much longer than younger people to flush these drugs out of their bodies, and the ensuing buildup puts older adults at higher risk for not just memory loss, but delirium, falls, fractures and motor vehicle accidents.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

If you take one of these meds for insomnia, mild anxiety or agitation, talk with your doctor or other health care professional about treating your condition with other types of drugs or nondrug treatments.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom if you have insomnia, for instance, melatonin might help. Taken before bedtime in doses from 3 to 10 mg, melatonin can help to reestablish healthy sleep patterns.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

How they can cause memory loss: drugs that lower blood levels of cholesterol may impair memory and other mental processes by depleting brain levels of cholesterol as well.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom in the brain, these lipids are vital to the formation of connections between nerve cells — the links underlying memory and learning. (the brain, in fact, contains a quarter of the body's cholesterol.)

cognitive learning theory in the classroom

A study published in the journal pharmacotherapy in 2009 found that three out of four people using these drugs experienced adverse cognitive effects "probably or definitely related to" the drug.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom the researchers also found that 90 percent of the patients who stopped statin therapy reported improvements in cognition, sometimes within days.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom in february 2012, the food and drug administration ordered drug companies to add a new warning label about possible memory problems to the prescribing information for statins.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Alternatives: if you're among the many older americans without known coronary disease who are taking these drugs to treat your slightly elevated LDL ("bad") cholesterol and low HDL ("good") cholesterol), ask your doctor or other health care provider about instead taking a combination of sublingual (under-the-tongue) vitamin B12 (1,000 mcg daily), folic acid (800 mcg daily) and vitamin B6 (200 mg daily).Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

How they can cause memory loss: these drugs work by stemming the flow of pain signals within the central nervous system and by blunting one's emotional reaction to pain.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom both these actions are mediated by chemical messengers that are also involved in many aspects of cognition. So use of these drugs can interfere with long- and short-term memory, especially when used for extended periods of time.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Alternatives: in patients under the age of 50 years, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (nsaids) are the frontline therapy for pain. Unfortunately, NSAID therapy is less appropriate for older patients, who have a much higher risk of dangerous gastrointestinal bleeding.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom research shows the risk goes up with the dosage and duration of treatment.

Talk with your doctor or other health care provider about whether tramadol (ultram), a nonnarcotic painkiller, might be a good choice for you.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom in my practice, I often recommend supplementing each 50 mg dose with a 325 mg tablet of acetaminophen (tylenol). While there are prescription drugs that combine tramadol and acetaminophen, these products have only 37.5 mg of tramadol, and in my practice I've found that patients generally need the larger dose.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom