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Memory declines faster than any other clip in the two - and - a - half years before decease of old age , a new study discover .
In the years before end , the pace of memory declination rush up eight to 17 fourth dimension , harmonize to the enquiry . The study examined the brains of 174 Catholic priest , nuns and monks who had undergone computer storage testing for six to 15 year before their deaths . After decease , researchers led by Rush University Medical Center scientist Robert Wilson investigated the participant ' brains .
Memory decline speeds up in the two to three years before death of old age.
They find that the characteristic plaques and snarl ofAlzheimer ’s disease(which occur before the disease is diagnosable ) are not to fault for the fast rate of the decline . Alzheimer ’s tangles and plaques were relate with the decline starting originally , but not with it run short quicker . That point to another perpetrator for the memory problems .
" The finding suggest that the changes in mental abilities during the two to three years before death are not drive like a shot by processes related to Alzheimer ’s disease , but or else that the remembering and other cognitive fall may involve some biological change in the brain specific to theend of life , " Oregon Health and Science University professor Hiroko Dodge , who was not postulate in the study , wrote in an editorial accompanying the unexampled newspaper publisher . " The study by Wilson and his co - generator deepen our understanding of concluding cognitive decline . "
With further study , Dodge wrote , investigator could break algorithms to detect and analyse memory change to discover people in this terminal phase of life .
The study and editorial look online today ( April 4 ) in the journal Neurology . A second study , also moderate by Wilson , finds that mental activity canboost brainpowerin old age . slimly more than 1,000 elderly people with an mediocre age of 80 underwent annual memory exams for five geezerhood , reporting how often they read , wrote letters , visited the program library or played dining table games .
Unsurprisingly , mass ’s participation in these activities was linked withmental functionover the age : If one declined , so did the other . But the decline in activity antedate the declension in memory board function by a year , channelize to a causal relationship , the researchers find .
" The results suggest a cause - and - effect family relationship : that being mentally active leash to better cognitive health in old age , " Wilson said in a program line .
