It is difficult to define the concept of cognitive health, since there are factors such as age or educational level that can be decisive in the results of the tests used to assess it. The usual thing is that it does not affect the daily activities of the patient, although it can be revealed in other tasks that require high performance, such as studying a career or learning a foreign language.
Having good cognitive health means maintaining an adequate level of performance in brain functions during all stages of life, and there are activities, such as daily tasks or organizing trips, that activate and stimulate them.
Does mental gymnastics work?
Mental gymnastics could be an easy remedy for cognitive decline, as it has no side effects and can be done almost anywhere. But there are those who wonder if it really serves its purpose and its results apply to daily life. Some experts assured as early as 2014 and through a consensus letter published by Stanford University, that there is no evidence that mental exercise manages to reduce cognitive decline.
However, a few months later, another group of more than 100 professionals refuted the ideas of his arguments by drafting a new letter. There is evidence showing that cognitive training regimens can significantly improve cognitive function.”
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The open letter to the Stanford Longevity Center explains that “There is evidence showing that cognitive training regimens can significantly improve cognitive function”. Nevertheless, They claim to agree with the experts who sign the Stanford letter on several points, such as the fact that training to keep the brain healthy must be tested, controlled and reviewed by experts before carrying it out.
As if two letters written by experts with opposite ideas were not enough, scientists from different universities, including Illinois, Florida and Cambridge, drew their own conclusions after studying 132 investigations on exercises to improve cognitive abilities . These experts found that most of the studies they reviewed claiming that this type of exercise was beneficial had followed a good research method. Therefore, they concluded that playing games related to mental skills helps maintain cognitive abilities, although it will not make you remember absolutely everything.
How can we strengthen our memory?
There is no drug to prevent cognitive decline, unless there is an identified cause, such as vitamin B12 deficiency, hypothyroidism, stroke, head trauma or brain hemorrhage, among others. However, it does recommend cognitive stimulation to strengthen brain functions, such as memory exercises, reading or any activity that makes us maintain concentration and attention for a long time.
Although it is difficult to propose a rigorous scientific study that measures the effect of cognitive stimulation, it is known with certainty that patients who are not stimulated deteriorate much more quickly: if they are always at home or do not do any activity, the process speeds up significantly.
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The problem is what is conceived as mental exercise or cognitive activity and what is not: the important thing is to train in everyday activities that can be useful in their daily life, since it makes no sense to teach them to play chess if they have never done it before. As beneficial as chess is in executive tasks. The important thing is to practice everyday activities that can be useful in your daily life. Most of the mental gymnastics activities that are proposed would not have to improve attention in other activities of daily life. What is clear is that cognitive stimulation has benefits and notably delays the evolution towards dependence
Neuropediatrician Director of the SOMA Institute (MN 98.128)
Source: Ambito
