Alzheimer’s disease continues to be one of the most fearful , because it severely affects memory, orientation in time and space, social relationships or even the ability to recognize family members. In the end the consequence is the progressive dependence of the affected person.
Alzheimer’s today is not cured, we know that. But it is also true that we can do many things for our brain, even when we already have a preliminary diagnosis. It is what we know as cognitive stimulation, or what is the same, keeping the brain active with different types of exercises and tasks that force us to think. And we know that the sooner you start, the better. Therefore, it would be interesting if the diagnoses could be given in the early stages of the disease.
One of the symptoms that seems to be found at the beginning is the alteration of smell , which is already observed in people with mild cognitive impairment. But, are olfactory problems related in any way to the cognitive problems present in Alzheimer’s? Well, that is what Makizako and his collaborators found in a study carried out with 220 elderly people with slight impairment of their mental functions.
In an article published in Chemical Senses they report how those who had a more severe olfactory alteration also obtained worse results in tests of memory (verbal and visual), executive functions, attention and a slower information processing speed.
Most interestingly, it was found that having good scores on memory tests was associated with a lower likelihood of losing smell . And it seems that the loss of smell could be more strongly related to memory loss than with other mental functions.
As we have seen, beginning to work with the brain early can slow the progress of the disease. Don’t wait for a diagnosis and take care of your brain from today.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
