Imagine this: You open your usual shower gel , the one with the scent you’ve been familiar with for years, and suddenly… nothing. Or rather, a vague scent, difficult to identify. This detail, which might seem trivial, can actually be one of the very first signs of cognitive decline , according to Professor Davangere Devanand , a psychiatrist and neurologist at Columbia University in New York.
Why? Because smelling isn’t just a matter of the nose: it’s a brain function closely linked to memory . The areas of the brain that allow us to identify odors are among the first to be affected in early-onset forms of Alzheimer’s disease.
A simple, but revealing test
