Kathleen The core characteristics of cognitive health in the elderly are that the ability to live independently in daily life is not affected, social communication functions remain normal, and the occasional benign forgetfulness does not fall into the category of cognitive abnormalities.
Last week, I met the 74-year-old Uncle Li at a community cognitive screening point. When he walked in, he patted his head and said that he had been forgetting to pick up his grandson recently, so he must be "brain-broken." As a result, all the indicators we tested were fine - he could arrange his own fishing trips three times a week, remember to regularly check his blood sugar for his diabetic wife, and talk about the international situation with others in a clear-headed manner. This kind of occasional forgetfulness is actually a manifestation of normal brain aging, and it is completely a state of cognitive health.
Of course, there is no completely unified conclusion among academic circles and front-line practitioners regarding the criteria for judging cognitive health. In the past two years, a foreign research team proposed that "the ability to actively accept new things" should be an important evaluation dimension. Data shows that the elderly who can learn to use smartphones to hail taxis and make video calls are indeed much slower in long-term cognitive decline. However, many domestic geriatric medicine workers who are deeply involved in grassroots work do not agree with this as a hard indicator, especially when targeting elderly groups in rural areas and with low education levels. This requirement is obviously too harsh. Many elderly people have never been exposed to digital products in their lives, and they cannot be judged to have cognitive problems just because they cannot use health codes.
In fact, this difference is easy to understand. The cognitive health of the elderly is like an old yard that has been maintained for decades. It does not mean that it must be as neat and bright as a newly developed lawn. Some yards may have a few more weeds, and some flowers may not grow so vigorously in some corners. However, as long as vegetables and flowers can be grown normally, and the owner can go in and out smoothly, there is no need to insist that every place be perfect. When we usually do cognitive intervention, we also meet many elderly people who are in particularly good condition. Some are over 80 years old and are still learning Chinese painting. They can remember the brushwork they learned decades ago when they pick up a pen. Some of them have a memory that is indeed not as good as before and forget what they just said when they turn around. However, they have not lost their carpentry skills throughout their lives. They can build a small stool or repair a cabinet very quickly. In fact, they all belong to the category of cognitive health.
You don’t need to be nervous when you see the elderly forgetting things. As long as there are no abnormal symptoms such as suddenly not recognizing the person, being unable to find their home, being unable to calculate daily accounts, or having an unexplained change in temperament, there is basically no need to worry too much. If you are really unsure, go to a cognitive screening point in the community and take a test. It is much more reliable than guessing at home.
