Alzheimer’s is a disease that steals more than just your memories… It also steals your ability to perform even simple tasks, leaving you perplexed, frustrated and reliant on others to care for you.
A new study has shown that people on the road to Alzheimer’s may actually have problems early on in processing what’s called semantic memory — or knowledge-based information. With semantic memories, recent experiences don’t come into play. Instead, semantic memories are what you’ve stored during a lifetime of learning about life and the world around you… When you want to remember certain things that you’ve learned, like the capital of France, the names of colors, the sounds of letters or how to button a shirt — you’re using your semantic memory. And, according to the researchers, knowing that this decline in semantic memory precedes Alzheimer’s is critically important — because it may be possible to strengthen these semantic processing connections through training… Most studies on Alzheimer’s and its earliest stage — mild cognitive impairment (MCI) — have focused on how the disease affects short-term memory.
Training your semantic memory- The good news is there are things you can do to train and improve your semantic memory, and doing so may help you ward off the signs of cognitive decline longer… These include:
- Recall exercises – The best exercises for improving semantic memory are remembering a series of words and increasing the amount and difficulty of the word. For example, try to remember all 50 states in the United States, then the each state’s capitals, and then move on to continents and countries.
- Learn new languages – Learning new language requires you to expand and learn new vocabulary, new grammar rules and new sentence structures. Your semantic memory is constantly being used and strengthened as you learn language.
- Answer questions – Have a friend or loved one write a series of questions for you such as what are the names of the months, or what are the numbers between 1 and 15. They could also give you incomplete sentences that you have to complete. For example, “lemons are the color…”, “The capital of the USA is…” etc….
- Do crossword puzzles – Just like with #3, doing crossword puzzles makes you recall information in you semantic memory to answer questions.
Your semantic memory allows you to figure out how the world works and carry out the all of the tasks to get through your day, from making breakfast to taking your medicine and cleaning your house. And, regression of this memory could be a sign that Alzheimer’s is down the road. Take steps now to train and improve your semantic memory to stay cognitively fit for life
