What is cognitive training in old age?

In old age, it is important to know how to effectively slow down the decline of cognitive abilities.

Cognitive training for seniors is a very useful therapeutic resource that can slow down the decline of certain mental abilities. that makes it possible to slow down the decline of certain mental abilities.

As we enter old age, there are several aspects of our psychological abilities that may be at their best. 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 is precisely a tool with which psychologists help to cushion this mental wear and tear. Because while it is true that virtually no person of retirement age is as mentally agile as he or she was in his or her 20s, the assistance of psychology professionals can have a very positive impact.

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 basic cognitive abilities.

Among these mental skills we find the use of language, memorization, the ability to differentiate between stimuli, the ability to concentrate, writing, sense of orientation, etc., etc.etc. In other words, 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 for patients of almost any age, but its application to the elderly is particularly common. but its application to the elderly is particularly common, because the elderly benefit especially from its effects.The aim is to slow down as much as possible the weakening of cognitive function in these patients. With such patients, the aim is to slow down the weakening of these cognitive skills as much as possible.

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

Why do cognitive skills decline 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, as cognitive decline is generally assumed to be normal at this age.The decline in cognitive abilities is generally assumed to be normal at this age. But... why does this loss of psychological abilities occur?

Aging of the brain

Aging can be seen directly in the tissues of the brain, just as it can be seen in people's skin. This change in appearance, whereby the cerebral cortex shrinks somewhat, reflects changes at the functional level in the nervous system: neurons no longer work as efficiently because of metabolic and structural changes in the nerve cells, and because of the death of many neurons.

Tendency to sedentary lifestyles

Another aspect to take into account is that older people tend to be less active. older people tend to be less physically active. than 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.

Adopting a comfortable lifestyle

Along the lines of what we have seen in the previous paragraph, older people tend to follow lifestyle habits that fit with what they already know and what they can do. One of the causes of this is that as we grow older, we find environments and contexts that fit our innate potentialities, that which by genetic inheritance is not very difficult for us to do.

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

How is the psychological intervention carried out?

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

1. Assessment

First of all, the person must be evaluated to determine to what extent the cognitive wear and tear produced by old age significantly affects his or her 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/she will be subjected.

In addition, this not only serves to know in which skills he/she fails the most and which abilities are more preserved (and to what extent they are), but it also allows us to monitor progress, to check whether we are reaching the objectives set..

2. Psychological intervention sessions

If the previous stage was characterized by the collection of information, in this one we intervene in the patient. For this purpose, in my case, weekly visits are scheduled to CECOPS, where I directly attend the person in need of professional intervention; these visits can be done individually or in group sessions, depending on the specific needs of each individual.depending on the specific needs of each individual.

It is important to emphasize that in the cognitive training sessions for the elderly psychologists do not just give information: this would not be a true trainingThis would not be a real training, but an informative talk. Although the fact of transmitting the theory of what is happening 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, use of language, use of guidelines to know what to do at any given 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. It is necessary to learn those days in order to consolidate and reinforce those learnings..

Therefore, another of the functions that we psychologists have is to motivate and inform patients so that they can find times to apply certain psychological exercises in their daily lives. 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 wellness professionals, psychologists also like to have a constant and fluid communication with the close environment of patients exposed to situations of a certain vulnerability; usually, these people are members of their family. Thanks to this, we achieve that in their home there is also a context that encourages the person to continue progressing, and that can help them to reach their goals.