What does cognitive health education for the elderly include?

Currently, the cognitive health education for the elderly in China does not have a completely unified content framework. The core focus is on the early identification and prevention of cognitive decline, as well as intervention and care after illness. The content focus will be significantly different in different scenarios.

Last week I was doing missionary work in the Balizhuang community and met 68-year-old Aunt Zhang. In the past six months, she has always forgotten to turn off the fire and forget to pick up the groceries after paying for them. Her children asked her to go to the hospital to check whether she was alive or dead, saying that it is normal for people to be old and confused, and they did not even know what MCI (mild cognitive impairment) was. Therefore, the first part of our mission is to help the elderly and their families distinguish the early signs of normal aging and cognitive decline, such as repeatedly adding salt to cooking, not being able to find the way home when going out, not being able to operate household appliances that were used skillfully in the past, and suddenly becoming suspicious and irritable. These are not "normal symptoms of old age" and should be screened by a neurology department in time. There is currently no unified conclusion in the academic community regarding the frequency of screening. Some neurology teams recommend that elderly people over 60 years old undergo cognitive scale screening once a year. Some public health scholars believe that elderly people without family history, diabetes, brain trauma and other high-risk factors can be screened once every two years to avoid unnecessary anxiety.

Of course, just talking about how to identify is not enough. The most important part of the propaganda is prevention methods that ordinary people can directly implement. Don’t just recommend some sky-high-priced brain supplement products to the elderly. We often tell the elderly in the community that if you go downstairs every day to play table tennis with your old friends for half an hour and sing a popular song together, it is much more useful than spending thousands of dollars to buy so-called "intellectual health products." Keep your blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipids under control, don't smoke too much, drink too much, sleep for 6-7 hours a day, and think about new things when you have nothing to do. For example, learn to cook new dishes from short videos, or sign up for a community calligraphy class. These are all good ways to exercise your cognition. Nowadays, various paid cognitive training games are being promoted on the Internet. In fact, academic circles have different opinions on this matter. Some studies believe that long-term targeted cognitive training can indeed slow down the rate of decline. Many scholars also believe that as long as daily activities that can mobilize attention and memory are effective, there is no need to spend a lot of money to buy courses, but it is easy to be deceived by unscrupulous merchants.

If the elderly have been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or even Alzheimer's disease, the content of health education will be more focused on practical care skills. I met a family member before and said that after her mother was diagnosed, she always liked to run out and get angry when she was stopped. She went to work and was afraid that something would happen to her at home. So we would teach her to sew a cloth tag with the contact information of the family member in the old man's pocket. Try to keep as few sharp small objects in the house as possible. Don't always choke with the old man. For example, if she forgets to ask for the meal she just had. When eating, don't directly say "Why are you still eating after you just ate?" Instead, you can say "Let's take a break for half an hour and I'll eat with you later, okay?" When you have nothing to do, look through old photos with the elderly and talk about her queue-jumping and working days when she was young. These simple methods can not only reduce caregiving conflicts, but also help the elderly slow down the rate of cognitive decline.

I have been doing community awareness education for almost 4 years. In fact, these contents have never been fixed. When I encounter communities with many elderly people living alone, I will talk more about how to identify early signs by yourself and where to go for free screening.； If there are more family members coming to listen, I will talk more about practical care skills. In the final analysis, I want everyone not to regard "forgetfulness and confusion" as the standard for the elderly. Pay attention and intervene early, so that even if you are really sick, you can live a more comfortable life.