Everyone knows short-term memory problems all too well: Where did I put the key? What is my password? But if you can’t think of such things regularly from midlife, it can be a bad sign.
Dementia is one of the most feared diseases of old age. Chronic forgetting now affects around 1.7 million people in Germany and more than 55 million worldwide – and the trend is rising. According to a study by the WHO, the number will increase by around 40 percent by 2030 – reports the Tagesschau. In Germany, according to the Federal Ministry of Health, the number is currently increasing by 40,000 a year.
According to the current state of affairs, dementia is usually only diagnosed at a very late stage. Due to the lack of effective forms of therapy against the disease, preventive measures such as a healthy, mentally and physically active lifestyle at an early age are all the more important. Because once the disease has broken out, it can only be delayed, if at all.
Research results from a study by the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg now show that gaps in short-term memory in middle age, from the age of 50, can already be early signs of later dementia. For example, people who attest to problems with their short-term memory have a significantly increased risk of developing the disease.
The experts examined data from almost 6,200 people aged 50 to 75, as they write in the journal “Age and Aging”. In another study between 2000 and 2002, they provided information on how they assess the ability of their short-term memory and their long-term memory. In the 17 years that followed, people kept checking on her health.
The result: those who reported problems with their short-term memory at the time had up to twice the risk of developing dementia later on than the rest of the group. This also applied to the age group between 50 and 64 – i.e. middle-aged people, as the researchers write. A total of 492 study participants developed dementia during the 17-year follow-up period.
“Subjectively perceived problems with short-term memory can indicate an increased risk of dementia in people from the age of 50 years – and this many years before the diagnosis is made,” said the scientist involved in the study, Hermann Brenner, head of the Department of Aging Research DKFZ.
According to the results, those who also suffered from depression in addition to short-term memory disorders had an even higher risk of developing dementia later on. However, there was no correlation between long-term memory problems and dementia in the age groups evaluated.
For significantly older people, it was previously considered proven that the risk of dementia increases with disorders of both the short-term memory and the long-term memory.
1. Recognize and compensate for hearing loss
2. Pay attention to education – for life
3. Avoid head injuries, i.e. traumatic brain injuries, as much as possible
4. Prevent high blood pressure, optimally reduce existing blood pressure
5. Less alcohol is better
6. Obesity – reduce excess weight
7. Quit smoking
8. Treat stress and depression properly
9. Company instead of loneliness and isolation
10. Avoid air pollution and particulate matter as much as possible
11. Get active, because resting also rusts your brain
12. Avoid type 2 diabetes at all costs
