HOW TO IMPROVE MEMORY, REDUCE INFLAMMATION, CUT CANCER RISK, AND WHY TRACKING COULD HARM YOUR HEALTH

Come Walk With Me

First things first, the 2025 London Festival of Walking is hosting a free conference (2 May) on strolling, featuring the neuroscientist, Professor Shane O’Mara, and yours truly (that’s me, Annabel). If you’re interested in the biology, neuroscience, politics or simply the joys, of walking, you can claim a place by registering here.

I’ll also be doing two free 30-minute masterclasses (8 May, 10 am and 11 am, from 80 Mortimer Street, London W1), on how to improve gait, stride, posture and breathing, so that walking is both highly enjoyable and of optimal benefit for your body and brain.  You can sign up here.

Improve Your Memory

Interestingly a study fell into my in-box this morning from the British Medical Journal, showing that the one, simple-to-do activity that genuinely improves memory is  walking. 30 minutes a day is sufficient and ‘had greater impact on cognition, memory and focus’ than crosswords, Sudoku, online brain training and Wordle. Do them by all means – but do them for fun and not to keep your memory glass-sharp.  For that, you’ll need to move.

This review examined data from 2,700 studies, involving 250,000 people: ‘Moving your body improves how we think, make decisions, remember things and stay focused,’ wrote the researchers, adding ‘walking or cycling can increase the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning.’  Brisk is good, but the researchers also noted – a little surprisingly – that ‘effects were generally larger for low and moderate-intensity interventions.’  So T’ai Chi and yoga also had good results.  The results were most marked among people with ADHD and teenagers and children.  For anyone with revising teens, urge them out for regular, short walking breaks.  Or dancing, cycling, whatever gets them off their chairs and screens.

Read to the end (my ‘Lift Weight’ section) to find out why moving might have such a powerful effect on memory

Citrulline: Cucumbers, Melons, Squash…

A study of citrulline caught my eye last week. Citrulline – an amino acid produced in-body but also found in cucumbers, melons and pumpkins – has just joined the list of potentially anti-aging metabolites that includes spermidine (we wrote about spermidine here) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)  and its precursor, NMN, which Susan takes in supplement form and that we wrote about here. As an aside, new studies suggest NAD supplements shouldn’t be taken by those with high levels of inflammation (for example those with autoimmune diseases).

But back to Citrulline:  This study was in mice, but it joins a number of previous studies (in humans) suggesting that Citrulline can reduce inflammaging, counter inflammation, lower blood pressure and generally help us age better. The researchers think that as we age, we produce less citrulline and suspect this ‘deficiency’ could be ‘a driver of aging’ with citrulline supplementation ‘as a promising therapeutic intervention to counteract aging-related changes.’

Of course it’s far too early to suggest we all supplement with Citrulline. But I like the recognition given to cucumbers and melons – two ‘fruits’ bereft of the colours we’re encouraged to eat and that, I was once taught, contained nothing but water.  As summer is coming, may we suggest that you add cucumbers and melons to your diet – in abundance.  Here are two of my favourite recipes from the blog: smashed cucumber salad and watermelon salad with feta (watermelon is a double whammy as it’s also rich in lycopene). There’s also a glorious cucumber soup here.

Eat Red, Orange and Yellow

But don’t forget the carotenoids in colourful fruit and vegetables. A study reported and analysed last week, in the ever-trustworthy Examine.com, found that regular munchers of  carotenoid-containing plants had an 18% reduction in overall cancer risk.

This umbrella review examined 51 studies and found that the risk of specific cancers (gastrointestinal, prostate, breast, head and neck, bladder, gynaecologic, skin, and blood) reduced by between 9% and a whopping 55% among those eating diets rich in carotenoids. It also found that supplementation was not the answer, writing ‘Supplementation with beta-carotene increased the risk of lung and bladder cancers.’

So forget the supplements. Instead, make sure you’re eating plenty of red, orange, yellow and green fruit and veg.  Happily, cantaloupe  and watermelon will provide both carotenoids and citrulline – fill your plates! And if you’re a gardener, don’t forget to add cucumbers to your planting list.

Muscles, your Microbiome and Inflammation

Yes, I know we’re always banging on about muscles and I hope you’re all regularly lifting some weight and eating enough protein to keep your bones and muscles strong. But this new study intrigued me, especially its main finding: that  ‘the gut microbiome is linked to muscle aging in middle-aged and older adults.’

The study (not yet peer-reviewed) found that a diverse microbiome – including strains like  Oscillibacter, Anaerotruncus, Eisenbergiella  and  Agathobacter – was linked to stronger muscles (although not bones), particularly among women.  Oscillibacter is often abundant in coffee drinkers, but a nicely fibrous diet, some fermented foods, not too much stress and plenty of exercise will all help.

It’s not clear whether a diverse microbiome improves our skeletal muscle or whether using our muscles improves our microbiome.  I suspect it’s the latter, particularly having examined this new study that found people regularly working their muscles had lower levels of inflammation. In this meta-analysis of 19 randomized controlled trials involving 728 older adults, resistance training reduced C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation). As we’re always saying, inflammation is the hallmark of most of the diseases of aging.  If strength training reduces it, then strength train we must!

If you’re not yet doing this, please start now. You don’t need a gym or a trainer. A resistance band is a great place to start, or buy a set of weights and lift as you watch the TV or listen to a podcast.

Still not convinced? Then let me share a report that has – quite literally – landed on my screen as I write.  In this study of 44 adults aged 55 or older with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, resistance training frequently reversed mental decline. A six-month programme of twice-weekly strength training appeared to improve critical brain regions, including those linked to Alzheimer’s.  I got in touch with the lead researcher who explained exactly what the participants did: ‘3 sets of 10 repetitions in ten different exercises that prioritized large muscle groups throughout the body: leg extension, chest fly machine, seated leg curl, lat pull-down, leg press, seated row, hip abduction machine, standing calf raise, reverse crunch, and sit-ups.’ Participants worked primarily with machines, always alternating upper and lower limbs, and with a rest period of one minute between each set. However, you don’t need machines to achieve the same results: working with a set of hand weights for the upper body, and incorporating press-ups, squats, lunges, sit-ups and tricep dips, will hit the same major muscle groups.

You could wear a weighted vest to add weight.  I’m currently investigating weighted vests so if anyone out there has worn one, please do let us know in the comment box.

Health Tracking

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little weary of all this tracking that’s going on in the name of health. It’s been on my mind for a while. Ever since I came across a study that compared walkers who counted their steps (confession: I count) with walkers who didn’t (confession: sometimes I don’t count). The walkers who didn’t track their steps had more enjoyable walks. They walked less, but they were happier.

And then last week I watched Don’t Die on Netflix (anyone else seen this?) and was horrified that a man could measure, track, survey, monitor every minute of his life with such an unhealthy obsession and at such a huge cost.  I retitled the documentary: Don’t Live.  Harsh, but (to me) his life seemed utterly deprived – of laughter, community, pleasure and joy. Besides, all those millions of dollars could have been invested in properly useful studies.

More importantly, with our endless tracking and measuring, we can inadvertently create stress and expectations. We also forget how to listen to our own bodies.  Instead of trying to understand what our bodies are experiencing or attempting to communicate, we rely on a (not always accurate) device. I know, I know, there are things like blood pressure that we can’t feel and must be measured.  But steps, sleep, heart rate, likes, bowel movements, water intake … etc etc? Every day? Really?  Worryingly, the growth of CT scans (to track and check) means that epidemiologists think CT scanning could account for 5% of future cancer case – that’s the same as obesity and alcohol. Note: the bulk of this ‘routine CT scanning’ happens in America, so that’s presumably where the risk will be highest.

So yes, CT scans can save lives. And yes, tracking can be helpful. But all in moderation. And we should never let numbers rule our lives.  Contrary to what the tech bros would have us think, some (most?) of life’s most profound experiences can’t be counted, measured or tracked.

If you’re a tracker, let us know  in the comments box. We’re particularly interested in what you’re tracking and whether it helps. And there’s an excellent podcast from Liz Earle on why sleep trackers won’t help you sleep any better (and what will) here.

And if tracking is making you anxious or unhappy, there’s a short piece here suggesting a ‘tracker sabbatical’ (my words, but you get the gist!)

In the meantime, keep walking, keep lifting, keep chomping those fruit and vegetables of every colour (including white) and do come and find me at the London Walking Festival.

If you want to hear any of my recent podcasts on the transformative power of landscape and its little-known effects on us, check out The Wellness Way, Standard Issue or Beautiful Universe – all on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.   Or you can find extracts, interviews and articles in the Daily Mail, The Guardian, Good Housekeeping, and the I Newspaper.

You can also now buy the book directly from our site (we receive a small commission which helps pay for the site’s upkeep) or from any good bookshop.

It’s a beautiful Easter weekend….Stroll on!

Annabel