MONROE, La. – When thinking of age, we put ourselves under the impression that our mental capacity is deteriorating, but is that really true? Olu Kemi Kuku, assistant professor at the Kitty Degree School of Nursing at the University of Louisiana Monroe, uses adequate information to provide an answer.
On cognitive abilities supposedly being worse the older you are
I do not think this is true due to functional age being different from chronolgical age and aging can occur without cognitive impairment. Decline in cognitive impairment only happens because of certain conditions and some adults grow older without these conditions. It is a myth that aging brings on more memory loss.
Normal changes of aging
Normal changes include slower movement, activity, and processing of information. When a question is posed to an older adult, they may take time going through their thoughts to get the appropriate answer, because at that age they are more aware of leading people to the truth and so they do a life review in a short span of time. Since their memory bank is higher than that of a younger adult’s, it can take them longer to process. However, this does not mean that they cannot comprehend or have deficits in thinking.
Abnormal changes of aging
A few examples include when an older adult does not remember something from the past and relate it to something of the present or when an individual cannot remember something that just occurred, but can remember something from the past. There are several preventions to hault these kinds of changes such as physical activity, good nutrition, stimulating environments, and provider care.
