And you can have it years, even decades, before being diagnosed by a doctor.
Your lousy sense of direction may indicate a bigger problem than just getting lost: Difficulty forming a mind map in your head may be one of the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s , according to research from the University of Washington at St. Louis.
In the study, the researchers used a virtual computer maze to test the spatial processing of three groups of participants: healthy people, adults with early-stage Alzheimer’s, and people in the preclinical phase – those who show no symptoms but who have a low level of a certain biomarker, which may be a sign of the disease years before it appears.
As expected, participants in the early stage of Alzheimer’s performed worse than healthy people on the spatial processing test .
But also those who were in the preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s , however, and who had not presented any other symptoms.
? Spatial processing , particularly the ability to form a mental map of the environment, is associated with the hippocampus ,? says Dr. Denise Head, author of the study. “Changes in the hippocampus appear to occur before individuals are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s .”
In fact, they may even occur a decade or more before.
Other signs of failure in the spatial process include getting lost when going to or returning from a new place, as well as having difficulties using a map in areas with which you are not familiar.
But don’t worry if you get lost every time you walk down a new street.
These results do not mean that everyone with these problems will develop Alzheimer’s .
More research is needed to determine how likely it is that people with these difficulties will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s later.
Still, if you notice any of these problems – especially if you’ve never had them before – talk to your doctor, says Dr. John Morris, co-author of the study and director of the Knight Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at the School of Medicine in the University of Washington.
Changes in spatial processing , especially if you’re under 50, are rare, so it’s not a bad idea to schedule an evaluation with a neurologist, he adds.
He or she may perform tests to evaluate the structure and function of the brain.