In France, it is estimated that there are about 900,000 patients who know, or not, Alzheimer's patients. This degenerative disease that causes a gradual decline in memory is a type of dementia that can not be cured for the moment. In 2016, the High Authority of Health had chosen to stop the reimbursement of prescription drugs because their "clinical relevance" was not important enough. In Without Appointment Europe 1, Philippe Amouyel, a doctor and researcher specializing in diseases of aging at Lille University Hospital, gives his advice in an attempt to repel the disease.
Shifting the habits of your brain
Stimulating one's brain is the best way to ward off Alzheimer's disease. "Ideally, you have to start small," says Philippe Amouyel. "The best example is that those who study longer develop Alzheimer's disease ten to 15 years later than those who do short studies," he adds.
To stimulate one's brain, one often thinks of intellectual exercises, like learning a foreign language. But that's not the only solution. "You have to do something that changes your behavior in relation to your brain," explains Philippe Amouyel, "to get the brain out of its comfort zone."
Example among others, use his left hand ten minutes a day (if one is right-handed). "In the beginning, your brain will not understand and it will be disturbed.This will create a new connection," says the specialist. "It helps to make your brain more resilient, the so-called cognitive reserve, it needs to be maintained so that later on, if you have Alzheimer's disease, it starts as late as possible," he says. doctor.
Sneeze and cough!
Another daily reflex to take: do not refrain from sneezing or coughing. "When you do, there is a projection of the air that is in your body, at a speed of the order of 50 km / h.If you hold back, this creates an extremely brutal blood pressure increase that will bring a break of small vessels, "says Philippe Amouyel. So if you want to take it, now you know it: do not hold back!