Cognitive abilities range from person to person, and they encompass your ability to tie your shoelaces, use technology, or operate complicated machinery.
Reasoning and processing skills are cognitive skills, along with holding and accessing the information in your long and short-term memory.
Cognitive aging – the basics
Our cognitive skills deteriorate as we get older, and our ability to recall memories from the past or even simple facts about everyday life can become impaired and reduced.
This is standard to a certain extent and to be expected.
Our brains grow old at the same rate as our bodies, and as our skin loses its elasticity and gains wrinkles, so does our brain changes to its usability and function.
These changes are normal and part of growing old.
However, cognitive aging can be affected by several life conditions.
For example, early-onset dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, brain damage, or drug abuse can cause changes to cognitive abilities and processes. As a result, dealing with people whose cognitive skills have reduced is an expensive and essential task for healthcare systems around the world.
Cognitively impaired people are not only more vulnerable then others, but they can be a danger to others if their condition is not understood and dealt with appropriately.
How to improve your cognitive age
People’s cognitive function became a popular topic, not just for healthcare professionals, but for the general public. People want to learn what can be done to slow cognitive aging.
There are emerging ideas and practices to improve and maintain your brain activity and function.
Studies show that reductions in cognitive ability are due to lack of exposure to new and exciting experiences, and a lack of inspiration or passion. Learning and doing new things is always at the top of any list of ways to improve cognitive function, and this includes challenging puzzles or brain teasers as well as sky diving and snorkeling.
Reduced cognitive function lowers not only our life expectancy but also advanced aging in other parts of the body.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and a good sleep cycle, is paramount and will contribute to reduce cognitive aging.
