Amnesia, more commonly known as memory loss, is quite self-explanatory. It can be caused by various factors, such as low blood sugar,  side effects of a medication, or dementia. It tends to become more prevalent in the ageing population—4 out of 10 people over the age of 65 will experience it.

Diabetes-Related Memory Loss

Drastic changes in blood glucose levels can develop memory loss as a short-term problem. For example, during hypoglycemia, one may struggle remembering words; however, in most cases, it comes back when the sugar levels are raised over 4 mmol/l.

Diabetes can also trigger long-term memory loss if the sugar levels are not kept in check. Hyperglycemia, over a period of years, can cause damage to nerves, even those in the brain. This, in turn, will increase the risk of developing dementia later in life.

Good diabetes management plays an important role in the prevention of memory problems.

The Role of Exercise in Memory Loss Prevention

Researchers from the University of Tsukaba in Japan found a link between moderate aerobic exercise and improvement of memory loss. Their research involved studying rodents with type 2 diabetes throughout four weeks of moderate activity.

There was already knowledge of the effects that type 2 diabetes can have on memory due to a disruption of glucose metabolism (glycometabolism). It is also known that exercise can boost glycometabolism. This study looked at whether exercise can also have a boosting effect on the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory formation.

What they found was that glycogen (chains of glucose) is higher in the hippocampus of diabetic rats and that four weeks of exercise had a positive effect on the improvement of type 2 diabetes-related memory loss.

The researchers believe that moderate exercise could be used to treat memory loss in patients with type 2 diabetes.