To prevent memory loss, certain lifestyle habits should be taken as soon as possible.
- According to the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), nearly 10 million new cases of dementia are reported each year worldwide.
- Dementia is a state of global and progressive intellectual impairment that includes various conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Memory allows us to record, store and restore information acquired during our daily lives. Five interconnected systems share this work: working (or short-term) memory, semantic (language and knowledge), episodic (personal events), procedural (unconscious automatisms) and perceptive (based on the senses). But as we age, cognitive performance tends to decline.
Memory loss: preventive measures to avoid it
To maintain and stimulate your memory, and therefore avoid memory loss, health insurance recommends developing cognitive abilities (with games or intellectual activities). It is also necessary to take care to maintain an active life rich in social relations (cinema, meetings with friends, etc.). It is also preferable to adopt a healthy lifestyle (exercise, varied and balanced diet, quality of sleep, limit alcohol consumption and stop smoking).
Chinese researchers wanted to verify this advice transmitted for years by health professionals. For this, they analyzed the health data of nearly 30,000 elderly people collected over more than 10 years. More specifically, six factors have been identified by scientists as having a link with memory:
- A balanced diet ;
- regular physical activity: i.e. at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity sport or 75 to 150 minutes of sustained intensity per week);
- an active social connection (more than twice a week);
- active cognitive activity (greater than or equal to twice a week);
- NO SMOKING ;
- do not drink alcohol.
Having a healthy lifestyle preserves memory
“Participants were categorized into the favorable group if they had four to six healthy lifestyle factors, the average group for two to three factors, and the unfavorable group for zero to one factor.”, explain the authors of the study which was published in the journal The BMJ.
Results: people who were in the so-called favorable group had a 90% lower risk of developing dementia, even when they had genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, compared to the so-called unfavorable group. For volunteers in the average group, they had a 30% lower risk of developing dementia compared to the unfavorable group.
It would seem that a balanced diet and the practice of regular physical and cognitive activity were the most important factors in preventing memory loss. However, the authors point out that the combination of several factors – or even all of them ideally – remains the best strategy for preventing memory loss.
