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Having a strong memory capable of storing a large amount of information for long periods of time and preserving details is not available to everyone, especially the elderly, but scientists attribute it to reasons that may help us fight it in the future.
Experts believe that the brains of older adults can forget due to the loss of sleep rhythm during the night, when their brains are unable to coordinate the brain waves necessary to keep the new information well, according to the specialized scientific journal “Science” .
Matt Walker, a professor of neuroscience at the University of California, said the brains of very old people seem unable to synchronize their brain waves effectively. One study showed that this issue can answer a long-standing question related to how aging affects memory, and even in people who do not have Alzheimer’s disease or other brain diseases.
The results were based on an experiment conducted with 20 very old people, who were asked to learn 120 pairs of words and put electrodes on their heads during sleep. The study reported that the electrodes allowed scientists to monitor the electrical waves produced by the brain during deep sleep. Emphasis has also been placed on the interaction between slow waves, which occur every second, and faster waves called the sleep spindle, which occur more than 12 times per second.
The next morning, study participants took a test to see how many pairs of words they still remembered. The scientists noted that their performance was determined by the extent to which their slow waves and sleep spindle were synchronized during sleep.
The experts also relied on a second experiment that included 32 people between the ages of 60 and 70 and concluded the same result, which means that their brain waves were less synchronized during sleep, plus they remembered some words in the morning. . after the experiment.
On the other hand, the study indicated that it found a reason for the lack of coordination between brain waves in older people. It is related to the atrophy of an area of the brain that favors deep sleep. The more people experience brain atrophy, the more they lose their sleep rhythm.
The US news site NPR, quoting Walker, said this issue is frustrating, because atrophy of an area in the brain is a natural consequence of aging, adding that it could be much worse for people with Alzheimer’s disease. . However, the study indicates that poor memory can be improved by resynchronizing brain rhythms during sleep, relying on magnetic or electrical impulses placed on the scalp, which improves brain waves and syncs them again.
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