Cognitive Health
According to the National Institute on Aging (2024), “Cognitive health is the ability to think, learn, and remember clearly. It is needed to carry out many everyday activities effectively. Cognitive health is just one aspect of overall brain health” (para. 1). Brain health refers to how well the brain functions across several areas.
Aspects of brain health include the following:
- Cognitive health: How well you think, learn, and remember
- Motor function: How well you make and control movements, including balance
- Emotional function: How well you interpret and respond to emotions, both pleasant and unpleasant
- Tactile function: How well you feel and respond to sensations of touch, including pressure, pain, and temperature
To ensure that all four of these functions operate successfully, the National Institute on Aging (2024) stated that maintaining physical fitness is crucial for cognitive well-being, and can be achieved by having regular health check-ups, managing chronic health issues, seeking healthcare advice, minimizing brain-injury risk, abstaining from alcohol, and ensuring adequate sleep. According to the National Institute of Aging, a healthy diet including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, fish, poultry, and low-fat dairy products can enhance cognitive function and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Traditional foods across cultures typically provide the nutrients required for a healthy diet. A risk for seniors is a lack of financial security or social support to eat well, as this may lead to an overuse of processed and packaged foods that are easy to prepare.
Physical activity is important, even if it is simple, as it can improve mood and reduce depression. There are many physical exercises that can be done even if one has limited mobility. Some examples are chair yoga and functional exercises. Maurice of Seniors Mobility (n.d.) explained, “functional exercises deal with any necessary movement to safely perform your daily activities. These movements are tied to your level of flexibility, balance, muscular strength, and cardiovascular endurance and allow you to stay independent longer” (para. 2).
Lifelong factors of addictions, trauma, and poverty can greatly impact accessibility to a healthy diet, the habit of exercise, and many other experiences a person has as they age. As a CSW, it is important to challenge assumptions commonly held about how people age, such as assuming older adults are close to their children, that they have family support, and that they were always or never physically fit. Rather, you should properly assess an older adult’s situation on a case-by-case basis.
References
Maurice. (n.d.). Functional exercises for seniors: 12 best functional fitness exercises for seniors. Seniors Mobility. https://seniorsmobility.org/exercises/functional-exercises-for-seniors/
National Institute on Aging. (2024, June 11). Cognitive health and older adults. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/brain-health/cognitive-health-and-older-adults
Particular movements of the body or muscles to accomplish a specific action.
The ability to express, regulate, and be aware of emotion.
