On today’s show Dr. Oz covered the connection between smell and the Alzheimer disease.
From Dr. Oz’s blog, a post last year:
“Storing a memory is a standard process for your brain. Healthy cells communicate to each other and pass the memory to the hippocampus, the area of your brain used for storage. When you need that memory, the process works in reverse and you can recall it.
As you age, you have fewer brain cells, and it takes longer for your cells to communicate – thus making it harder to remember your memories. In someone suffering with Alzeimer’s disease, plaque destroys the connection to the hippocampus and they access to the stored memories is lost.
One of the first parts of the brain that’s affected by Alzeimer’s disease is the area that’s responsible for your sense of smell. If you cannot identify all the items on the list below by their smell, you should speak to your doctor.”
Have a friend or partner test you with the items below:
- Rose
- Cherry
- Smoke
- Peppermint
- Leather
- Lilac
- Pineapple
- Soap
- Strawberry
- Natural Gas
- Lemon
- Clove
