Cognitive Health Issues in Elderly: Challenges and Solutions

Cognitive Health Issues in Old People

Throughout life, everybody starts to deal with aging, and there is a point in life where the person becomes old enough, which causes them to face multiple health issues, both physical or mental.

Usually, older adults reach an age where their quality of life starts to decline. They come to a certain period, which weakens their entire immune system or mental activity making them fragile.

A cognitive health issue is a disease that causes a person to face both mental or physical problems since it does not allow a person to learn, think or remember and control any action, sensory behavior, or emotional function.

There are different types of cognitive disorder diseases that multiple adults face and specific methods to maintain or reduce cognitive disorder.

 

Types of Cognitive Disorders

The cognitive disorder directly links to the brain, which is usually caused due to injury on the brain, genetic problems, or environmental factors such as drugs, alcohol, trauma, etc.

Studies show that cognitive disorder has been categorized into different types such as dementia, amnesia, substance-induced cognitive disorder, and Alzheimer which will be further discussed in detail.

 

1. Dementia:

When it comes to dementia, people tend to face loss in cognitive actions, which older adults face, making it difficult for them mentally and physically, such as remembering, thinking, language impairment, visual impairment, etc.

A person who meets with a disorder like dementia makes it difficult for them to control their emotions or personality, which could cause them to have mood swings, anger, depression, stress, or anxiety issues.

Research shows that dementia usually occurs when a person starts to lose healthy neutrons making the brain stop functioning or connecting the brain and cells.

Doctors have proved that people might face four common types of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, Lewy Body Dementia, Vascular Dementia, and Fronto Temporal Dementia.

 

2. Amnesia:

Amnesia is a type of memory loss that causes the person unable to remember his past life or experience, which is most commonly found in older adults. There are times that a person facing amnesia finds it challenging to structure new memories or handle any further information, but they remember the past life.

Studies indicate that the symptoms of amnesia can be easily detected, such as a person forgetting recent events, places, or specific information; however, your body functions while remaining the same and does not affect amnesia.

There are different amnesia types commonly found among people, like retrograde amnesia, anterograde amnesia, transient global amnesia, and infantile amnesia. It is found that amnesia is caused due to various reasons such as trauma, head injuries, alcohol, etc.

 

3. Substance-Induced Cognitive Disorder:

People have been found to consume certain substances harmful to the body, like drugs or alcohol, which could cause physical health issues and mental health issues. The consumption of certain substances has been found to lead a person towards anxiety, stress, or psychiatric problems, which can cause a person to gain cognitive disorder.

An old age adult needs to be more aware or conscious when inducing certain substances since it could lead to more harmful side effects than a young adult.

 

4. Alzheimer’s Disease:

Alzheimer’s Disease is part of dementia that affects the brain, which occurs at a moderate level but becomes severe. A person who ages over time finds changes within their body.

There are researches that show the brain makes them face a disorder like Alzheimer causing the person to show symptoms like memory loss, speaking or reading disability, behavior change, recognition difficulty, etc.

Alzheimer’s is a disorder caused due to dead brain cells or neurodegenerative issues from aging, family history, or genetic transformation. There are three stages to Alzheimer which are mild, moderate, and severe, depending on their mental health.

Research shows that Alzheimer’s disorder is mostly found among old age adults; however, there are cases where it’s found among young or middle age people.

 

Solutions to Cognitive Health Issues

Scientific research shows that a person who maintains their health through specific steps can significantly affect their body both physically and mentally. The cognitive disorder can be solved by either reducing or maintaining them, but certain disorders like Alzheimer’s cannot be cured or solved.

There are various steps like maintaining health, healthy diet, physical activity, stress management, and social engagement that solve cognitive health issues, which are discussed further.

 

1. Maintaining Health

Health is an essential asset for anyone since it is the cure to many diseases or issues that a person might face, especially cognitive disorders. A person can maintain their health through multiple ways such as proper sleep, maintaining chronic diseases, quit smoking or drinking, and physical checkups.

 

2. Healthy Diet

Keeping a healthy diet can help prevent multiple diseases like cholesterol or diabetes and maintain a healthy brain. A healthy diet can be achieved by consuming fruits or vegetables since they do not have fat, sugar, protein, or carbohydrates, leading to a non-healthy lifestyle.

Research proves that a healthy diet helps prevent cognitive disorders like dementia since the body is well maintained, which means the brain is beneficial.

 

3. Physical Activity

Physical activity like exercise, sports, or house chores allows people to move their muscles or nerves directly linked to the body and brain, preventing them from gaining any chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, or cholesterol.

Any physical activity can help a person in multiple ways, such as improve energy, improve strength, balance a healthy life, etc.

 

4. Stress Management

Stress is something that everybody goes through which could be easily solved; however, if a person has a high stress level, it could cause them to gain mental health issues such as memory loss, change in brain activity, or Alzheimer’s.

For someone to reduce stress, they can approach various methods such as yoga, meditation, exercise, staying positive, choose a hobby, etc.

 

5. Social Engagement

When people start having a conversation with others or take part in other social activities with family or friends, it helps to keep their brains active, lowering the risk of mental health issues like anxiety or stress and, most importantly, cognitive health issues.

Maintaining a productive and busy life helps avoid any problems that people could face through mental health perspective since they are distracted, which solves most mental challenges.

 

Conclusion

The elderly can implement the various solutions provided, but this does not help cure most diseases; instead, they could maintain or reduce their diseases. The cognitive disorder is a health issue that needs professional care from people who have experience dealing with such situations because they have been dealing with such situations for multiple years.

Home health care services specialize in such cases since they know how to deal with the elderly who face any Disease or disorder both physically and mentally.

 

Image Credit: Unsplash

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This article is published by our independent team of health and wellness pundits that publish original and informative content to empower readers to take charge of their health and embark on a physically, mentally, and emotionally balanced lifestyle.

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