Zapping our brains with magnets could help reverse memory loss

Forgetfulness is one of the hallmarks of ageing – almost 40 per cent of people aged 65 or older have some form of age-related memory loss. “Everyone reports having worse memory as they get older,” says Joel Voss, associate professor at Northwestern University in the United States and the lead author of a study finding that magnetic stimulation of the brain can boost memory. As we get older, they become worse and worse.” These lapses in memory are often due to the natural degeneration of the hippocampus, a brain region heavily associated with short-term, long-term, and spatial memory. “So what shows up on people's MRI scans is reduced, effectively suggesting that the hippocampus is not doing as good of a job at communicating with the areas of the brain that it usually talks to when it needs to build a memory.” But while there’s no way to regrow the hippocampus to the size found in young adults, scientists like Voss believe that with the right stimulation, this brain region can still recover a little of its youthful vigour. In a new study published in the scientific journal Neurology, Voss and his team at Northwestern University show how magnetic pulses can revitalize the hippocampus and improve the memory of older adults.