El Dr. Juan Rivera comparte sugerencias para el cuidado de la memoria
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00:00We are doing a series of content about the care of the brain and this particular topic
00:09that we want to work with you is about the care of the memory and the memory is such
00:18an important capacity that we humans sometimes neglect it or do not give it the importance
00:25that it deserves and I would like to start by asking you from your experience, from your
00:32knowledge, why it must be important for us to take care of our memory.
00:39Look, I would tell you that when one thinks about the total health of us and our purpose
00:48in life, we have two main purposes in life that have to do with health.
00:55Number one, longevity, but number two, quality of life.
01:00We want to live 100 years, but we want to live 100 years with quality of life and when
01:06we talk about quality of life, there are many factors that affect the quality of life.
01:10It can be something that affects your mobility and you can no longer travel, for example,
01:16there is something that suddenly affects your ability to consume food, which is something
01:21that we enjoy in life and there is something very important that has to do with quality
01:28of life, which is the social interaction that we have with other human beings and that social
01:34interaction is not only with family members, but also with friends, creating new friendships,
01:44creating memories that really have an impact on our overall health.
01:50When we develop memory problems that eventually lead to dementia, you lose part of the ability
01:59to enjoy life from that point of view, social interactions become very difficult because
02:06you don't remember people, you don't remember conversations, it becomes difficult or impossible
02:12to create new memories because they are usually diseases that affect the cognitive part in
02:19the short term, so when we talk about really taking care of our body, it is extremely
02:27important that we think in a preventive way in that cognitive part because it has to do
02:33with our quality of life and with our ability to be happy.
02:36Doctor, and you precisely mention prevention and we know that in older adults there is
02:48a greater risk that diseases such as dementia may appear, but is there a specific age at
02:57which we are going to start paying attention to the care of our memory, of our brain or
03:04is it actually something that we should start doing from an early age?
03:09You have to start it from an early age and I'm going to explain why, today we know that
03:16the same risk factors that lead to cardiovascular disease also increase the risk of dementia,
03:23I'm talking about high blood pressure, I'm talking about high cholesterol, I'm talking
03:28about blood sugar, I'm talking about smoking cigarettes, I'm talking about drinking
03:32excessive alcohol, I'm talking about obesity, all those factors, sedentarism, all those
03:38factors that lead to cardiovascular diseases also increase your risk of developing dementia
03:45because there is a type of dementia called vascular dementia
03:49where basically, just as you develop plaque in the arteries of the heart,
03:54you can develop plaque in the arteries of the brain
03:57and that plaque makes you not have so much circulation and oxygenation to the neurons
04:02and eventually you develop these mini heart attacks
04:06that gradually decrease your cognitive capacity.
04:10So, what you eat, the exercise you do, how you sleep and how much you sleep,
04:18how much alcohol you drink, if you smoke or don't smoke,
04:25all of that, you have to start doing it as soon as possible in your life
04:30to prevent the development of cognitive problems or dementia.
04:36If you ask me, two diets that I would say
04:39that can probably prevent this type of long-term problem in a more effective way,
04:45one of them is a plant-derived diet,
04:49but one has to know how to do it very well because mistakes can be made,
04:52and the other is a Mediterranean diet,
04:55which is really the most data that exists to ensure, or not to ensure,
05:02but to reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems and dementia in the future.
05:07It would be a Mediterranean diet.
05:09Exercise, obviously, that from the physical point of view of the day to day.
05:14The other thing that is important is to maintain the exercise of the brain.
05:19The more languages you can learn, the more cross-segments you can do,
05:25the longer you can stay in your life,
05:29stimulating the executive part of the brain, doing your accounts,
05:34taking your own business into your life.
05:39The more active that executive part of the brain is,
05:43that also helps to reduce the risk of dementia.