Cognitive impairment

 

Cognitive impairment is when a person has trouble remembering, learning new things, concentrating, or making decisions that affect their everyday life. Cognitive Impairment ranges from mild to severe.

 mild cognitive impairment may increase your risk of later developing dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease or other neurological conditions. but some people with mild cognitjve impairment never get worse and a few eventually get better.

Symptoms:

Your brain, like the rest of your body changes as you get older. Many people notice gradually increasing forgetfulness as they age, it may take longer to think of a word or to recall a person's name.

Here are some of the symptoms:

1) you forget things more often.

2) you forget important events such as appointments or social engagements,

you lose your train of thought or the thread of conversations, books or movies;

4) you feel increasingly overwhelmed of making decisions

5) you start to have trouble finding your way around familiar environments.

6) you become more impulsive  or show increasingly poor judgement.

You may also experience:

1) depression

2) irritability and aggression

3) Anxiety

4) Apathy

Risk factors:

1) Diabetes

2) smoking

3) high blood pressure

4) elevated cholesterol

5) obesity

6) depression

'7) lack of physical exercise

8) low education level

9) Infrequent participation in mentally or socially stimulating activities

Prevention includes:

1) Limit exposure to air pollution.

2) reduce your risk of head injury

3) dont smoke

4) manage health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and depression.

5) practice good sleep hygiene

6) eat a nutrient rich diet that has plenty of fruits and vegetables. and is low in saturated fats.

7) engage socially with others.

8) Exercise regularly

9) stimulate your mind with puzzles, games and memory training.