The experts are categorical: it is possible to age without a real decline in memory and to delay the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease, if we adopt a few simple actions on a daily basis.
At the end of September 2021, the fourth edition of Memory Week, organized by the Observatoire B2V des Mémoires, attracted no less than 2,800 experts and people from the general public, eager to know more about memory. and the means to protect it. This shows the interest aroused by this cognitive faculty! In fact, this fascinating tool is as prodigious as it is complex: “arising from vast interconnected neural networks, located in several brain regions – and not just one – memory makes it possible to learn, store and remember, at the appropriate time. information as diverse as what we did the day before, the multiplication tables, La Fontaine’s fables or the names and faces of people “, enthuses Francis Eustache, president of the scientific committee of the Observatoire B2V des Mémoires.
Memory that malfunctions, it’s all life that falters
A major cognitive faculty that guarantees our autonomy, which accompanies us from our first learning until the end of our life, memory is vital in several ways. “Seat of all our memories, learning and know-how, it allows us to adapt to our environment and to interact with it, to learn, to guide our thoughts and decisions, to live the present and to anticipate the future by function of our past, and to shape our personal and collective identity, so that if it becomes dysfunctional, all of life falters, “explains Francis Eustache. But as powerful as it is, our memory can be impaired by several diseases, such as the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease or – less well known – Covid-19, which can temporarily decrease it. In addition, the lack of daily stimulation and “unhealthy” lifestyles are also threatening.
It is possible to curb the decline of memory
Finally, like all functions of the body, memory also becomes less efficient with age. Indeed, “aging accentuates the loss of neurons and nerve connections at the level of the prefrontal cortex, involved in the processes of storage (“ encoding ”) and recovery of memories. ‘we did the day before, the title of the film seen a few days ago, etc.) are more numerous over time, “says Laurence Taconnat, specialist in normal aging of memory. Fortunately, forgetting is not inevitable. Indeed, “certain simple solutions can slow down memory decline and improve it, or even delay the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,” says Francis Eustache.
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