“Keeping your heart healthy may play a role in keeping your memory sharp later in life, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Neurology.
Other factors, including not smoking, past high scores on cognitive tests and the presence of a particular gene variant, were also linked to better memory for people in their 90s, the study found.
‘What’s good for the heart seems to be good for the brain and seems to be very important in avoiding Alzheimer’s disease,’ the study’s lead author, Beth Snitz, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, said.”
“Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting over 5 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The chances of getting Alzheimer’s increases with age. Symptoms include memory loss, change in behavior and decline in reasoning.
Many studies on Alzheimer’s aim to understand what factors contribute to the disease. But the new study focused on what protects people from it.
‘Sometimes the answers to what predicts resilience and health in aging are not simply the opposite of what predicts disease or not simply the absence of what predicts disease,’ Snitz said.”
View the whole story here: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/aging/healthy-heart-linked-sharper-memory-people-age-their-90s-n1234644