Lose three or four, the brain always "drops"? Watch out! These behaviors are damaging your memory!

Have you noticed that as parents get older, they often forget the last sentence, forget the name of some people or certain things, and in serious cases, even forget what just happened in the blink of an eye.

Even for ourselves, there will occasionally be a state of "fragmentation" and "amnesia" in the brain, such as holding a mobile phone to find a mobile phone, suddenly forgetting what we should do after answering a phone call, and often blackening a sentence: "Old... I'm getting old..."

You may also have such an experience, all kinds of staying up late, not resolutely sleeping until twelve o'clock; working overtime until all night, playing with mobile phones for a while before going to bed, not playing mobile phones feel sorry for this rest time...

(Image source: giphy)

These behaviors are actually damaging our memory.

The regulation of the nervous system is very complex and delicate, just like the throttle and brakes of a car will switch and run at any time with different road conditions.

During the day it takes work and study to maintain vigorous energy, the brain needs to slam on the accelerator, and this process requires the innervation of the sympathetic nerves to maintain sufficient brain excitement.

At night, the brain needs to turn on the rest, put on the brakes, allow the brain to fully rest, clean, nourish and empower, and prepare for the next day's work and study, a process that requires the innervation of the parasympathetic nerve.

Irregular work and rest due to various reasons will disrupt the regulation process of the brain nervous system, just like the failure of the throttle brake of a car. Lack of energy and attention during the day, and lack of sleepiness and sleep drive at night. It is inevitable to enter a kind of life situation of "not sleepy at night, not up in the morning".

The rhythm of the brain is always not stepped on, just like the best car is not used correctly, it is inevitable to break down on the road. Chronic damage to the brain naturally affects advanced functions of the brain, such as memory and attention.

Long-term chronic brain damage, especially in old age, also increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease [1].

In addition, the modern way of life, time becomes excessively fragmented, this process will also lead to frequent task switching, damage to attention resources and working memory ability, resulting in frequent absent-mindedness when doing things, losing everything, and the brain often "dropped the line".

During our normal aging process, memory also declines. So why does memory decline as the human body ages?

Let's start by likening memory to a vast file system, the structure of the deep temporal lobe in our brains – the hippocampus – like a large hard disk capable of accessing information. All kinds of information drawn from the outside world every day are sorted and processed, marked and stored in large hard disks. When this information is needed, it can be extracted and used at any time.

As we age, various brain regions of the brain will age, just as as a computer declines in work efficiency as its useful life increases. Within a certain range, memory loss, which has little impact on daily work and life, can be recalled immediately after prompting, and memory attention loss that does not cause serious consequences belongs to the physiological phenomenon related to age increase, and there is no need to worry too much, nor does it belong to the scope of clinical diagnosis of diseases [2].

However, some elderly people's memory loss is not the "benign" memory loss described above. This non-"benign" memory loss may be an early sign of dementia. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease, or AD for short, is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. According to WHO, one person with dementia is produced every three seconds worldwide [3].

(Image source: soogif)

As the population ages, AD becomes a challenge for every family.

When the people around us, especially the elderly over 60 years old, have the following symptoms, family members and relatives cannot easily think that it is memory decline caused by normal aging, and should seek professional medical help to determine whether there is a possibility of Alzheimer's disease.

Momentary forgetting: the most typical is what was done in the previous second, forgotten in the next second, after prompting, there is no memory at all, but the memory of a long time ago is deep;

Dysplasia: Severe impairment of brain function that affects the process of thinking, understanding, and expression. Patients can manifest as unsatisfactory words, incoherent and repetitive, confused thinking, etc.;

Disorientation: Confusion about time and place and character relationships, and even the risk of accidents caused by getting lost and getting lost [1].

For Alzheimer's disease, there is currently no effective way for the medical community to reverse and treat it. The timing of prevention and treatment is recognized worldwide as an effective means. The adverse effects of dementia on quality of life and longevity can be minimized through early detection and early intervention, and the possibility of developing Alzheimer's disease can be postponed or reduced through early prevention.

Use your brain more

We often say that the brain does not need to rust off for a long time, which makes some sense. It is recommended to train the brain more often, such as reading, making friends, playing chess and listening to music, and cultivating various interests and hobbies.

Get enough quality sleep

Regular, high-quality sleep is essential for the protection of memory. The storage processing and consolidation of a large amount of information needs to be done during sleep. So ensuring sleep does help our brains repair to a certain extent.

Eat a healthy diet

The brain's work requires healthy raw materials as energy. Nutritionally balanced, varied, scientifically processed dietary style is the basic law of protecting the brain.

Finally, quitting smoking and alcohol and exercising more are also essential for brain health.

With age, a certain degree of cognitive decline is inevitable, but rich life experience can make up for the loss caused by aging. If you find that the degree of brain function decline is not consistent with the age, you must seek medical attention in time to find the cause of the disease, so as not to delay the best time for treatment.

Special Author: Xu Hao | Neurosurgeon Cop Big V

Review expert: Wang Chunxue | Chief Physician, Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital

bibliography

Changyun. Whether senile forgetfulness is at work in age[J]. Community, 2003, 000(020):42-42.

Li Juan, Cui Xiaoyu. Research Progress on Neurobiological Mechanisms and Risk Factors of Memory Aging[J]. Chinese Journal of Geriatric Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases, 2017, 19(011):1121-1123.

Wang Huali, Yu Xin. Epidemiological status of Alzheimer's disease in China[J]. Chinese Journal of General Practitioners, 2006(6):358-360.

Ye Min. Research progress on the causes and pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease[J]. Practical Geriatrics, 2017, 031(005):402-406.

*The content of this article is a popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation, nor is it a substitute for face-to-face consultation by a practicing physician, for reference only.

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