Dementia in elderly

Dr. Nilesh Shah a leading psychiatrist from Mumbai (Sion Hospital) with more than 3 decades of experience speaks about depression in the elderly. You can access multiple videos by Dr. Nilesh Shah on the topics related to mind care of seniors.

What is Dementia ?

It is an illness where in the capacity or ability of brain function gradually declines and loses efficiency in its working. It starts affecting some key functions for the brain such as attention concentration, memory , speech , calculation, language, visio-spatial orientation. It also affects what is called as executive functions such as judgement, problem solving, reasoning, logic etc.

In elderly-care what is the impact on memory in dementia ?

In the early stage it starts with loss of recent memory such as they may forget what they had for breakfast. Such memory which is called as automatic memory gets affected in the initial stage. They may remember the past events but day-to-day memory gets affected.

Whan to seek medical advice ?

The care takers or the senior member should reach out to a doctor as early as possible. This is because there are some forms of dementia which are reversible and have treatment e.g. nutritional deficiency dementia or thyroid related dementia can be treated. 10 % dementias in elderly may be reversible but for this reaching out to the Doctor early is important. For other forms of dementia the doctor can help in slowing down the progression

What can be done avoid or delay the onset of dementia ?

Cognitive exercises can be done which the Doctor would recommend to the patient. In this you need to do something new such as learn a new dance form , learning a new language, playing a new instrument, doing crossword puzzles, problem solving are exercises which stimulate the brain. Even 15 minutes of cognitive exercise three times a week can help the brain to remain active

Healthy Wrinkles is devoted to better healthcare of senior citizens. We hope that Healthy Wrinkles YouTube channel, blogs and healthcare service databases will help senior citizens and also their family members to ensure better health. Knowledge, discussions and demonstrations over here are for the purpose of information only and shall NOT be construed as medical advice. You should contact your health care professional with respect any specific problem or issue.

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