While many people resign to the fact that cognitive function level declines with age, there are small changes in daily life we can do to reduce its effect. These lifestyle changes will not only improve your cognitive function level but also reduce the likelihood of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This post will pinpoint small changes we can embrace to improve our cognitive level.
- Why Do We Forget As We Age?
- What Is The Difference Between Normal Aging And Neurodegenerative Disease?
- What Is My Chance Of Dementia?
- What Can I Do To Improve My Cognition?
- Summary
Why Do We Forget As We Age?
Anyone who has looked for where they had put their keys will be familiar with how easily we can forget things. Older people tend to experience this forgetfulness much more frequently. So why do we forget as we age?
We forget with the reduction of neurons, a major type of brain cells. Although we form millions of neurons in the early years of life, it is said that we start to lose them in our 30s and 40s. A reason why the number of neurons decreases as we age could be because of reduced blood flow to the brain. This may lead to changes in chemicals in the brain, such as reduced epinephrine or blood glucose. Shrinkage of the hippocampus, a brain region that plays an important role in learning and memory, may lead to forgetfulness.
What Is The Difference Between Normal Aging And Neurodegenerative Disease?
Once we start noticing forgetfulness, we may begin to have this worrying thought: “What if I have dementia?”
Memory loss of normal aging involves infrequent forgetfulness. Perhaps once in a while, you will forget about a meeting, a bill payment, or a person’s name. But severe memory loss that makes it difficult to do everyday things like driving, being confused with time, people, and places, or finding your way home, might be a good indication for you to start planning a visit to your doctor.
If you suspect yourself of having a neurodegenerative disease, talk to your doctor. If you are aged over 65 years old and had Medicare Part B for longer than 12 months, you may be eligible for an Annual Wellness Visit to develop a free personalized plan to help prevent dementia. Your doctor may be able to assess your cognitive level with questionnaires like Mini-Mental State Examination.
Such memory-related questionnaires can help differentiate between different stages of dementia. Mild Cognitive Impairment is the stage between the expected decline in memory due to normal aging and the more serious decline due onset of dementia.
What Is My Chance Of Dementia?
Measuring the prevalence of dementia is difficult to measure, especially since the early onset of cognitive impairment is difficult to differentiate from memory loss from normal aging.
With increasing age, the chance of having dementia increases. In 2019, approximately 2% of those aged 70-75 years old had dementia, while 27.7% of individuals aged more than 90 years old had dementia.
There are conditions and activities that may lead to a higher chance of memory loss and neurodegenerative diseases. Excessive drinking of alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and having depression may lead to memory loss. Having chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol level, and depression may lead to an increased likelihood of dementia. Even hearing impairment could increase the likelihood of cognitive impairment.
What Can I Do To Improve My Cognition?
- Getting enough daily sleep (7-8 hours) is recommended to improve your cognitive function level.
- A healthy diet, such as eating fruits that have a lot of antioxidants and omega-3-rich foods such as fatty fish and walnuts can improve brain health.
- Regular aerobic physical exercises, such as tai chi and walking, for 150 minutes each week is recommended.
- Social engaging activities, such as volunteering or hobbies, that make you happy interacting with others can have protective effects by improving memory and self-esteem.
- Journaling and creative writing have been shown to improve the quality of life and well-being of older adults.
- Relaxation techniques, such as meditation or yoga, can help you reduce stress levels, blood pressure levels, and muscle tension, which can help improve your memory function.
Summary
There’s no worry if you are experiencing memory loss. If it is infrequent, it may be a temporary event. However, if you would like to proactively increase your cognitive level and also prevent the later chances of having neurodegenerative disease, consider taking the lifestyle change actions recommended above. With small incremental efforts each day, you can find tremendous improvement in your quality of life.
This post was inspired by Health Life Guru and Health Tips Now. Please feel free to pay a visit to them!
Disclaimer: This web post is for information purposes. If you have medical needs, please contact your primary care physician
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