Forgetting names, does this sound familiar?

Struggling to remember the names of people whom you met few days back?  Is recollecting phone numbers a tussle?.. Forgetting the place where you kept your car keys… Does all this sound familiar?

Well these could be normal forgetting incidents because you may not have been present at that point of time.. What happens when forgetting is a habit?

I was drawn to this TED talk by Lisa Genova, a neuroscientist and author of Still Alicewho has done immense work on the disease of forgetting… Alzheimer’s.  This week is the week devoted to new learnings and amazingly today I learnt something new on Alzheimer’s. I was under the impression that it has a strong genetic disposition but the recent studies seem to be promising. Lisa shares some promising research on what each of us can do to build an Alzheimer’s-resistant brain.

Alzheimer’s doesn’t have to be your brain’s destiny, says Lisa Genova.

Alzheimer’s disease begins to take form when a chemical Amyloid Beta begins to accumulate and forms plaques between brain synapses or the neural pathways. It takes 15-20 years before the disease can reach the tipping points and cause clinical symptoms like forgetting the keys in refrigerator

The good news is that Alzheimer’s can be prevented

The way we live our lives influences the accumulation of Amyloid Beta. Though age and genetics play a role, this will disturb the meter only a bit. So what does? What can be done?

1. Sleep does; we spoke of the importance of sleep just a week back. Lisa says, Deep sleep is like a power cleanse for brain. Poor sleep hygiene is seen to increase the Amyloid Beta plaque and vice versa
2. Aerobic exercises, heart healthy lifestyle helps control the disease
3. Increasing our cognitive reserves prevents the disease. This has struck the most with me because studies have shown that high cognitive reserves can prevent Alzheimer’s from showing up despite high Amyloid Beta plaques. Great news .. Isn’t it?

We can increase our cognitive reserves by new learnings, mental stimulation activities ..  not just retrieving information. This helps build Neuroplasticity by forming new neural pathways

So think of ways to increase your neural connections. Strengthen your neural synapses be it reading new books, new languages, travel, new experiences.. keep finding new ways..

Guys serious stuff.. Make life interesting; keep discovering and keep Alzheimer’s at bay

Here’s the link to the TED talk

https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_genova_what_you_can_do_to_prevent_alzheimer_s?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2017-04-28

Until Next,

Keep Smiling..