Why do people lose memory with age and how to avoid it

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Everyone wants to live a life, even its ending, in their right mind and clear memory. Here are some tips to help you achieve this.

Mental disorders, including memory impairments, affect more than 50 million people in the world. Scientists do not yet reliably know why memory worsens with age, but they have several suggestions on how to reduce this risk.

What types of memory loss exist

There are three main ones: cognitive decline during aging, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia. In general, they are similar, but there are important differences.

Decreased cognitive abilities during aging

Absolutely normal. With age, all cells of the human body wear out, including neurons. So minor memory problems in older people are natural.

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Mild cognitive impairment

This is something the average between cognitive decline and dementia. People who suffer from them forget many things, but can still function independently.

Dementia

This is a syndrome in which a person loses memory, cognitive abilities and the ability to perform daily activities. People with dementia also experience vision problems, spatial orientation, and language skills.

At a late stage, they can forget relatives and friends, become aggressive for no apparent reason, they may have paranoia and difficulty in moving. The most common form of dementia (60–70% of cases) is Alzheimer's disease .

There is no exact evidence of where dementia comes from. In the case of Alzheimer's, amyloid and tau proteins accumulate in the brain and weave into balls, interfering with communication between neurons. Because of this, the behavior and thinking of patients begin to change.

It is believed that the first parts of the brain that are responsible for memory are damaged, and then everyone else. Gradually, a person loses the ability to take care of himself, to talk and move, and in the end - to breathe and swallow.

Who is prone to dementia and memory loss

The main risk factor is age. About half people over 85 suffer from some form of dementia. Among other factors are cases of dementia in the family (the more there were, the higher the likelihood that you will have it too) and the presence of mental disorders like depression.

How to avoid memory impairment

Currently, there are no ways to reliably resist the development of cognitive impairment. But you can delay their appearance.

Maintain physical activity

As show Research, exercises do not help much to preserve memory, but improve other cognitive abilities, in particular, the ability to plan. They are useful in general - especially to maintain the ability to move.

Keep track of pressure

Recent study More than 9,000 people with hypertension showed that lowering blood pressure to normal levels (120/80 mmHg) reduces the risk of mild cognitive impairment by more than 20%, and dementia by 16%. Scientists also found that normalizing blood pressure greatly reduces the risk of mortality and cardiovascular disease.

Chat with other people

The most promising way to minimize the risk of dementia today is through social interaction. In one study elderly people, some of whom suffered from mild cognitive impairment, every day for 30 minutes chatted via video chat with specially trained interviewers.

As a result, the subjects improved many mental abilities, for example, fluency and speed of reaction. Improvements have shown even those suffering from mild cognitive impairment.

Social exclusion enhances the risk of dementia at 2%. Scientists suggest that even periodic communication with relatives via video chat can reduce this effect.