Age-related forgetfulness is perfectly normal. As people get older, the body organs, including the brain, experience various changes and memory decreases, but dementia is much more than that.
In these cases, memory loss is associated with decreased mental function and communication skills. The symptoms of this mental health condition often appear slowly and some people realize their symptoms and illness after a long time. Although dementia cannot be prevented, it is best to know about it. These symptoms often appear as behavioral changes, and one of the most common of these involves specific walking habits.
Strange walking routine and dementia
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe several neurological diseases, and loss of cognitive ability is one of its main symptoms. The onset of dementia can be determined by a specific walking routine. Memory loss is a common problem in old age and it can cause people to forget general things and for various reasons may walk somewhere, but in dementia people do not have obvious reasons such as that a person may frequently He walks around his house and when asked, he may not be able to remember why. If you see a pattern like this, be sure to write it down as it can help identify the problem.
Read more: Treatment of mental disorders in the elderly
Gait patterns and types of dementia
Alzheimer’s disease or dementia with Louie bodies are two major types of dementia, and researchers have recently found a way to differentiate between the two depending on the patient’s gait pattern. Research published in the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association shows that people who suffer from dementia with Louis’s bodies change their gait more often than people with Alzheimer’s. The time and length of the step in people with dementia is asymmetric with Louie bodies compared to Alzheimer’s disease.
Read more: Soy consumption is effective in reducing dementia
Other symptoms of dementia
Symptoms of dementia begin slowly, changes in gait and forgetfulness can be early signs. In addition, here are some other changes that you should also consider.
- Speed of thinking
- Clarity and mental speed
- Speech and language disorders
- Understand issues
- Judgment
- Changes in mood
- Difficulty in daily activities
Read more: Getting different vitamins in old age
How to reduce the risk of dementia?
There is no specific way to reduce the risk of developing this mental condition because the underlying cause remains largely an unsolved mystery, but there is evidence that following healthy lifestyle habits may reduce the risk. Getting these mental conditions help at older ages. These include learning a new language, solving a riddle or crossword puzzle or taking tests, playing card or board games, reading a book or writing.
Read more: How to treat the elderly?
Translator: Elahe Zarei
