We take the approaching start of school as an opportunity to inform you about the topic of Ayurveda and memory. Good memory is obviously important for students. However, it does not only have an effect on good grades or on later career opportunities. Ayurveda says that every illness is due to a loss of memory, a loss of the memory of our inner order. Modern medicine also speaks of "immune memory", meaning the body's ability to immediately recognise germs after a previous contact.

Loss of memory in older age, known as dementia or Alzheimer's disease, is one of the great challenges of our social development. .

Factors that cause poor memory

Research into dementia diseases has led to more being discovered in recent years about the causes of poor memory that can ultimately lead to dementia. Three main factors have been discovered. These three causative triggers of senile dementia do not necessarily lead to severe forms of memory impairment, but also appear to act as pacemakers for poor memory at any age, including children and adolescents. These three factors are:

1.     1. stress and lack of vital substances

2.     2. chronic (silent) inflammation

3.     3. chronic poisoning (heavy metals and other environmental toxins).

Each of these factors can work individually or in combination with others. It is equally important for schoolchildren, students and professionals to reduce these causes of poor memory as it is for seniors who want to escape dementia. Recent studies show that this is possible. However, the prerequisite is that one starts early enough and begins to permanently eliminate and avoid the triggers.

Ayurvedic view

In the early years of Ayurvedic medicine, an excellent memory was indispensable. The classical Sanskrit texts of Ayurvedic medicine, as well as Vedic grammar and ritual texts, were exclusively passed on orally. Only those who recited the texts regularly and thus kept them alive could remain at the highest level of knowledge and healing art. These were not just a few lines of verse, but texts several hours or days in length, or several hundred pages. Loss of memory and recollection was tantamount to loss of professional ability. There were no books in which one could look up what had been forgotten. Only regular recitation of the important passages and exchange with knowledgeable colleagues kept one from forgetting the basics of the healing art.

This was also the reason why methods for improving memory and retentiveness are of great importance in Ayurveda. Several methods for preserving and improving memory are presented in the classical texts, which show astonishing similarities with the modern therapy recommendations of dementia therapy.

1.     herbal remedies rich in nerve-strengthening secondary substances

2.     physical methods to improve cerebral circulation and defence against infections

3.     toxin elimination through Pancha Karma applications

4.     deep relaxation through Transcendental Meditation

Herbal remedies and nutrition for good memory

The seat of memory and nervous power is assigned to the "Majja tissue" in Ayurveda. Majja includes bone marrow, central nervous system and peripheral nerves. All these tissues have in common that they have a very high fat content. Therefore, the supply of high-quality fats plays an important role in the nutritive strengthening of brain and nerves. Besides ghee, which is said to have the best effect on good memory, coconut fat for the supply of short-chain fatty acids and sesame oil are also important, especially as a carrier substance for herbal active substances for external application.

All these fats are traditionally enriched with medicinal plants in order to bind their active ingredients to the fat and thus transport them directly to the brain. This is an active principle that is also used in traditional European medicine, just think of St. John's wort oil.

Among the important memory-promoting medicinal herbs, which are also used in our Maharishi Ayurveda products, either individually or as a complex, are Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri), liquorice, field bindweed (Convolvulus plauricalis) and Guducchi (Tinospora cordifolia). All four medicinal plants are included in MA3 Senior Rasayana. MA724 Student Rasayana  and MA674 Children's Syrup also contain these medicinal herbs in high quality processed form. For optimum effects, these remedies should be taken regularly for months or years at a time.