What is cognitive training in the elderly?

Cognitive training for the elderly is a very useful therapeutic resource that allows to stop the fall of certain mental capacities.

When we enter the third age, there are several aspects of our psychological capacities that can be in one of their best moments. The fact of having learned from decades of experience, if we know how to take advantage of it, makes us wiser and with more criteria for many things.

However, it is also true that old age comes with limitations associated with the passage of time and its effects on our body, including our nervous system.

Cognitive training for the elderly it is precisely a tool with which psychologists help to cushion this mental wear and tear. Because while it's true that virtually no person of retirement age is as mentally agile as when I was 20 years old, the assistance of psychology professionals can have a very positive impact.

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What is cognitive training?

We call cognitive training the set of techniques and strategies used by specialists in psychological intervention to help those who need it to preserve capacities basic cognitions.

Among these mental abilities we find the use of language, memorization, the ability to differentiate between stimuli, the ability to concentrate, writing, the sense of orientation, etc. That is, all those faculties that allow us to solve specific problems, decide the best options for action and learn from what happens to us.

Cognitive training can be used in patients of almost all ages, but its application to the elderly is especially frequent, because elderly people especially benefit from its effects. With this type of patient, the goal is to stop the weakening of these cognitive abilities as far as possible.

It is for this reason, among other things, that one of my main lines of work is cognitive training for the elderly: the simple passage of time makes practically everyone who passes the retirement threshold can experience advantages in their mental and communication performance by going through several sessions of this type of intervention.

Why do cognitive abilities decrease with age?

As we have seen, in people who have entered the stage of old age, cognitive training is useful regardless of whether they have been diagnosed with a particular condition or syndrome, given that the decline in cognitive abilities is generally assumed to be normal at these ages. Now... why does this loss of psychological abilities occur?

brain aging

Aging can be directly observed in the tissues of the brain, in the same way that it can be seen in the skin of people. This change in appearance, whereby the cerebral cortex shrinks a bit, reflects changes at a functional level in the nervous system: the neurons no longer work with the same efficiency due to metabolic and structural changes in nerve cells, and the death of many neurons.

Tendency to sedentary lifestyle

Another aspect to take into account is that older people tend to be less physically active than the other age groups, due to lack of energy and physical limitations such as joint pain or loss of muscle mass. This makes it easier to fall into a sedentary life, in which there is not a great variety of stimuli and therefore the person rarely encounters cognitive challenges.

Adoption of a comfortable lifestyle

In line with what we have seen in the previous paragraph, older people tend to follow life habits that fit with what they already know and what they can do. One of the causes of this is that as we grow, we find environments and contexts that they fit with our innate potentialities, what by genetic inheritance does not cost us much do.

For example, if someone has a knack for creativity, it is quite possible that they will reach retirement using good part of his free time to paint, and already having a family and friends who appreciate and support these initiatives. This is not bad in itself, obviously, but it is still a way to stay away from what is challenging, something new for us. Cognitive training for seniors breaks with this “comfort zone” logic.

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How is the psychological intervention carried out?

What is the methodology that psychologists use when intervening with cognitive training for elderly patients? In my work, the 3 phases in which this process takes place are the following.

1. Assessment

In the first place, the person must be evaluated to determine to what extent the cognitive wear produced by old age significantly affects their abilities. With this objective, I apply a previous test that serves to establish the baseline of the performance, the state of the patient prior to the mental training to which he is going to submit.

In addition, this not only serves to know in which abilities it fails the most and which abilities are more preserved (and to what extent they are), but also allows you to track progress, to check if you are reaching the objectives set.

2. Psychological intervention sessions

If the previous stage was characterized by the collection of information, in this one the patient is intervened. For this, in my case, weekly visits to CECOPS are scheduled, a place where I attend directly to the person who needs professional intervention; these visits can be made individually or in group sessions, depending on the specific needs of each one.

It is important to note that in the cognitive training sessions for the elderly psychologists do not limit ourselves to giving information: this would not be a real training, but an informative talk. Although the fact of transmitting the theory of what happens is important, what is fundamental are the activities of a psychological nature that are carried out by the patients, under the supervision of the psychologist.

These activities can be focused on different domains of human cognition: memorization, the use of language, the use of guidelines to know what to do at each moment, etc.

3. practice at home

Although the psychological intervention sessions in the psychologist's office are very important, it is necessary not to "disconnect" from what has been learned there between sessions. You have to learn those days to consolidate and reinforce those lessons.

For this reason, another of the functions that psychologists have is to motivate and inform patients so that they find moments to apply certain psychological exercises in their day to day. This is not very different from what happens when we want to progress in school or university: we have to study regardless of whether there are classes that day or not.

On the other hand, as psychological well-being professionals, psychologists also like to have a constant and fluid communication with the close environment of patients exposed to situations of a certain vulnerability; Typically, these people are members of your family. Thanks to this, we ensure that in your home there is also a context that encourages the person to continue progressing, and that can help them reach their goals.