Memory-Boosting Nasal Spray

German Scientists have recently started tests on a nasal spray that promises to help boost short term memory. The nasal spray if taken right before bed will increase retention of memories acquired during the past twenty four hours. This spray would be extremely useful to college students who need to cram the day before a test. The only catch with this medicine is that the user must get a good night sleep to remember the information. This would mean that the student would have to study all day then get 8 hours of rest before the test.

The spray contains a molecule from the body’s immune system, interleukin-6, which helps short term memory retention. The way that this memory boosting nasal spray works is by causing the person’s brain to retain the acquired memories during rem sleep cycles.

The methodology that the German Scientists used to test this medicine was to administer it on a group of young men. The test group consisted of 17 people who were either given a placebo spray of the interleukin-6. The young men would read a short story before bed, take the nasal spray, then get a good night’s rest. The next morning the men were asked to write down as much about the story as they could. The subjects who received the interleukin-6 did significantly better than the placebo group.

This article was interesting to me because as a college student I am very interested in anything that would help me study more effectively. This drug could potentially decrease study time for anyone taking it. I would love to be able to boost my gpa because I took a memory enhancing drug. This is also interesting because this drug might help scientists discover how memories are stored and how the human brain functions

Andrew Ritchey
VTPP 434-502

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,560924,00.html?sPage=fnc/health/neurology

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1217860/Late-night-cramming-key-exam-success--scientists-claim.html