I had a client recently who asked me to explain cognition and I realised that perhaps this is not a readily understood term, so I thought I would explain it in more detail. I will also explain what cognitive impairment and cognitive reserve are. If you are interested in the health of your brain, then you will most certainly wish to know more about these terms.
A bit of background first. As a speech language pathologist for 20+years, I have worked closely with 100’s of people whose cognitive abilities have been affected. Their cognition was impacted by a stroke, brain injury, Parkinson’s Disease, or the progression of dementia due to Alzheimer’s as well as a wide range of other causes. I have seen the effects that cognitive changes have had on these people and their families, friends, colleagues and the wider community. I have seen how impaired cognition changes a persons life forever. It can change someone’s independence, their purpose in life, their ability to work or study, their social connections and friendships, their ability to communicate and participate in activities that they previously loved. It has huge implications along with significant carer burden. As a therapist I have seen how devastating cognitive changes can be, and this is ultimately what lead me to become a health coach, to help people prevent or reduce their risk of cognitive impairment from occurring, by helping people live a brain healthy lifestyle.
What is cognition?
Cognition is often referred to as the ultimate brain function. It is basically your thinking brain yet it is actually very complex. The American Psychological Association define cognition as ‘all forms of knowing and awareness, such as perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and problem solving.’ Cognition allows us to attend, plan, make decisions, remember, communicate, imagine, perceive, learn, make judgments and problem solve amongst many other functions. It is the higher-level function of the brain that involves billions of neural connections in all regions of the brain. You are using a range of cognitive processes as you read this, which you may have never thought about before.
How can cognition be affected?
People can experience changes to their cognition. This can be caused by a variety of reasons such as stroke, brain injury, Alzheimers Disease and other dementias and other neurological conditions. These cause changes in the brain such as brain shrinkage and loss of neurons and synapses. Changes to cognition can cause memory loss, difficulty finding words and putting words into sentences, difficulty recognising people and places, mood and behaviour changes, difficulty planning or carrying out a task and with severe impairment, an inability to look after oneself. Changes to cognition are typically classified on a scale of mild to severe impairment.
It is important to be aware of what mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is, which may not necessarily mean there will be a downward progression to dementia, however it is a sign that there are some brain changes occurring. Signs of MCI include:
- You forget things more often.
- You forget important events such as appointments or social engagements.
- You lose your train of thought or the thread of conversations, books or movies.
- You feel increasingly overwhelmed by making decisions, planning steps to accomplish a task or understanding instructions.
- You start to have trouble finding your way around familiar environments.
- You become more impulsive or show increasingly poor judgment.
- Your family and friends notice any of these changes.
These are not typical signs of ageing and in many cases, can be prevented though lifestyle and environmental changes. If you are expiring these signed I highly recommend you visit your GP for further testing.
How can you improve your cognition?
There are many ways you can improve your cognitive skills and these don’t include brain training apps or programmes, which typically teach you to be better at a certain activity, which does not generalise to cognitive improvement. Studies show that by living a healthy lifestyle that involves minimal alcohol, no smoking, regular physical activity, eating nutrient rich unprocessed foods that includes lots of fruits and vegetables, managing any hearing loss, engaging with others stimulating your mind, and sleeping well, you will minimise your risk of cognitive impairment, and potentially improve any MCI symptoms. MCI can be reversed.
What is cognitive reserve?
Cognitive reserve is developed by a lifetime of learning, experiences and healthy living which helps your brain better cope with any failures or declines it faces. It is your brains resilience to the effects of ageing and disease as there is a better capacity, or reserve, to cope with changes. Studies have shown that there does not always appear to be a direct relationship between the degree of brain changes in any given individual and the outward signs of those changes. Super interesting!!
It may not be your destiny to experience cognitive impairment. It is not a sign of ageing. We can minimise our risk of cognitive impairment by actively engaging in a brain healthy lifestyle. You need intact cognitive abilities to be able to live your life to the fullest, to get the most out of everyday, to be happy and fulfilled, and to do good. Treasure the cognitive abilities that you have. Better yet, enhance them. You can improve your cognition, and you can develop cognitive reserve that may well be the winning ticket to ageing well.
If you wish to learn more about cognition, how you can reduce your risk of experiencing cognitive impairment, and improve your cognition and develop cognitive reserve, then be in touch. I can help you to make changes so that you are living a brain healthy lifestyle, so that you can ultimately age well.