In: Nursing
List special problems the following older individuals may experience in achieving adequate exercise: a resident of a long-term care facility who has dementia, a depressed widow who lives alone in the community, and a man who must seek re-employment after retiring.
Ans. Dementia and Alzheimer's disease are unlike any other condition dealt with by seniors. These conditions can affect every area of a senior's life, making specialized and personalized care even more important. Each and every case of dementia is unique to the person facing it, but here are a few things seniors with these conditions can experience:
General loss of memory and cognitive thinking
Changes (sometimes sudden) in mood and or behavior
Disorientation and general confusion
Loss of ability to speak or hold conversations
Difficulty walking or swallowing
Inability to recognize people, places, and/or time
Inability to participate in activities, including personal care and the requirements of daily life
The worsening of all symptoms over time.
cognitive stimulation and cognitive challenge throughout life, including the characteristics of one's occupation, how one spends her leisure time, whether one partakes in cognitive training exercises, and the extent of social interactions may all play a role in building or maintaining cognitive reserve and decreasing lifetime dementia risk. The optimistic and increasing evidence that aging brains retain their plasticity to grow new neurons and compensate for age-related pathologies through “life long learning” and cognitive stimulation will likely be an important focus of both future research and potential preventive interventions in the decades ahead.