Are you in middle age and smoke? It’s not just an impression if your memory falters

If you are in middle age (45 – 65 years old) and smoke
the feeling of not remembering
things are better as before
it’s not just an impressionbut a raw one scientific reality. A study just published in JAD says, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, by researchers at Ohio State University directed by Jeffrey Wing who used the SCD questionnaire. It is a test which, with about fifty questions, defines the so-called subjective cognitive decline, i.e. the self-reported experience of worsening or loss of memory and mental confusion, as well as the reduced ability to carry out daily activities such as cooking or cleaning the house.

One more factor

The discovery of the Ohio researchers adds Like this smoking to factors called “SCD+” by the thirty international researchers who have enucleated them by developing the questionnaire that also takes into account which personal characteristics can accelerate cognitive decline, from anxiety, to depressed mood, low schooling and others. As we age, everyone develops some cognitive declinebut forgetfor example, like performing routine tasks is not normal and can affect your ability to live and function independently.
Some may no longer be able to take care of themselves or carry out daily activities such as preparing meals, managing medical appointments or managing their finances.

Within everyone’s reach

The SCD questionnaire, created for a quick and easy assessmentwhich can also be carried out by telephone or by post without specific procedures and without the presence of a doctor who evaluates it only afterwards, has seen in the last decade unexpected confirmations
about the correspondence between the data on dementia risk that the SCD-Q provides in such a simple way and the data that can be obtained with more complex evaluations to which not everyone can easily access such as the neuropsychological scales administered by neurologists or the neuroimaging investigations with PET or magnetic resonance or the laboratory ones for the research of biomarkers such as tau and amyloid proteins, a typical marker of Alzheimer’s dementia.

Almost double

Evaluating 136,018 middle-aged subjectsAmerican researchers thus discovered that cSmokers run a 1.9 greater risk of memory impairment than non-smokersWhile for those who have quit for 10 years, the risk is one and a half times greater And, if the cigarette has been abandoned for more than 10 yearsAnd greater than 0.2 times.
Certainly further studies will be needed to better evaluate the type of cigarettes smoked and the overall duration of the habit, verifying whether it is associated with other chronic cardio-pulmonary pathologies which may, in turn, fall within the SCD+ category of the questionnaire, further aggravating the risk of decay; but it really seems that smoking should also be considered a risk factor for the brain as well as for the heart and lungs.
Limitations in cognition can impact the ability to manage treatments for chronic, often co-occurring diseases, but educating people about modifiable risk factors and understanding their impact can improve the health and well-being of many future older adults.

There are no more alibis

Old studies indicated that nicotine is able to expand the so-called “working memory” thanks to the activation of norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter of mental acuity and processing of sensory inputs.
Other studies they also noted that ex-smokers can recover the mnemonic capacities burned by cigarettes between the ages of 35 and 55.
It seems that this is not the case and these ideas are to be considered outdated so it is better that lovers of blondes abandon them quickly without using these old scientific alibis that a simple questionnaire like the SCD-Q blew up.

It might interest you: Here are the most proven methods to quit smoking by Vera Martinella