I mentioned cognitive a few weeks ago. Since then, I have thought, researched, reflected, and decided to expand this idea further. Dr. Artz at our Dementia Friendly Summit suggested that doctors check our blood pressure, weight, and height, so why don’t they also pay attention to our cognitive health? “How is your brain doing today?” might be an opening question. Key elements of cognitive health include the regular diet, exercise, social participation, and plenty of sleep routine you well know, but how to prioritize and why? I’m guessing each person will describe a unique order, as in “Which came first? The chicken or the egg?” This brings me back to beginning teachers. I’d remind them that our #1 job is education.
However, we must also be cognizant of other factors: health, safety, background, stability of life… A cold, hungry, lonely child cannot grasp the value of past participle agreement. I’ll offer you a potential brain-growth order, but you have to make it meet your personal wants and needs.
I always start with diet. When I eat nutritious food, low in fat, sugar, and lacking miscellaneous ingredient words that I do not recognize or am unable to pronounce, I feel better. My weight is maintained; my mental and physical strength increase.
These pluses allow me to exercise – I love a pleasant jog; I enjoy a bike ride; I meet the challenge of a swim. As my daughter tells her clients, “Exercise in ways you like!” I know I should lift weights and stretch, but I avoid them because these are not “fond” activities. Maybe tomorrow.
Keeping my brain active pays dividends with vision and outlook. Born into a family of learners, new concepts thrill me. Revisiting my French, reading non-fiction, practicing new skills, interacting, chatting, and absorbing new possibilities invigorate me. Taking on perplexing attitudes and points-of-view mean I must think and consider. That’s good – that’s enriching. Extending brainpower keeps me strong and enables wide opportunities.
Fortunately, I have no prescriptions so meds are not a problem and as an optimist I circumvent many negativities. Yes, these arise, but with a focus on my healthy mind and body I slide to new arenas of positivity and focus through (surprise!), diet and exercise. Not to sound overwhelmingly “holly, jolly” I do have struggles.
I stress – sometimes on things of value but mostly on trials and struggles that have no answer, no solution. While I can change how I think and feel, changing these attributes in others is a challenge if not an impossibility. I can hope to pass along ideas that provide insight and action, but that really isn’t my responsibility.
I enjoy letting my mind drift and I realize the benefits of meditation and yoga, but holding still remains elusive. I succeed when I do it my way (outdoor undertakings) and I suppose that is best anyway. Rest and relaxation also escape me even though I acknowledge their tremendous reimbursement toward overall good health. Again, I am trying to listen and obey signals of exhaustion and overdoing it. It takes effort.
Cognitive vital signs are especially valuable to care partners/caregivers. New terminology for many, “care partners” refers to the individual living with dementia or other debilitating illness and the one offering care. In a true partnership, all stands equal: choices, movements, routines, life in general. However, as an illness progresses, the partnership evolves and maybe dissolves as one member is not able to make clear, safe, decisions. Thus arrives the caregiver and the care recipient relationship. Members of my Alzheimer’s support group long for a partnership just as they accept that a loved one’s capabilities have diminished. I care about individuals with dementia; I worry about caregivers. A 24/7 situation and often left feeling alone and depressed, caregivers play a difficult role with no encouraging outcomes in sight.
I encourage you to help a friend or neighbor. A couple hours of freedom to shop or walk, a surprise meal delivered with a smile plus moments to converse; comfort slippers and a mug for tea – what an uplift! What a difference generosity creates. Caregivers face abundant dilemmas: in-home care or long-term care; old doctor who has grown grouchy or has given up or a new physician and the complications of adjusting to a changing situation; listening to yabbering, though well-meaning, family members or going it alone through the maze of end-of-life determinations? Constructive cognitive vital signs or hopeless decline? The world counts on you.