What are the characteristics of elderly cognitive health that are not included?

The characteristics of cognitive health in the elderly do not include the complete absence of cognitive decline and maintaining the same level as in young adults, nor does it include the complete absence of occasional forgetfulness and slow reaction times, nor does it mean that there will never be any risk of cognitive-related diseases.

I met 68-year-old Aunt Zhang when I was doing cognitive screening for the elderly in the community two years ago. She usually buys groceries and settles accounts faster than her juniors. She learned a new square dance routine in ten days and was able to become a lead dancer. It was only when she occasionally walked to the gate of the community that she realized that she had forgotten to bring a reusable bag for shopping. She blindly compared the popular science videos by herself, always suspecting that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and her hands were shaking when she came for the screening. In fact, her condition is not considered a cognitive abnormality at all. Many people have a perfect misunderstanding of cognitive health in the elderly. They think that "healthy" should have no flaws at all. However, cognitive aging is a normal physiological process. Just like wrinkles appear on the skin of people as they age, and they become breathless after running for two steps. The brain's instant memory ability and reaction speed will naturally decline physiologically with age. As long as this decline is within the normal threshold and does not affect normal life, social interaction, and self-care, it falls under the category of cognitive health.

There is still some controversy over this judgment standard in the academic community. Some scholars believe that cognitively healthy elderly people should have no impact on brain function caused by chronic diseases, while more front-line clinical and public health practitioners are more inclined to regard "actual impact on life" as the core judgment indicator. After all, the vast majority of elderly people have some basic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. As long as they are properly controlled and do not meet the diagnostic standards of mild cognitive impairment or dementia, they should not be directly classified as cognitively unhealthy. Previously, there was a 72-year-old Uncle Li who was screened in the same batch. He has suffered from high blood pressure for almost 15 years and has kept it under stable control. When doing the digit span test, the norm for young adults is to memorize 8 digits. He can only memorize 5 digits, which is a little bit behind. However, he usually makes his own strategies and goes on self-driving trips with his old friends in other places. When he comes home, he can also tutor his grandson in elementary school on math problems. He does not show any signs of cognitive impairment in his daily life, and he is naturally a cognitively healthy elderly person.

To put it bluntly, the judgment of the cognitive health of the elderly is never based on the brain of a 20-year-old. If the reaction speed and memory ability of young people are really required of the elderly, it is essentially a harsh criticism of the elderly group. Many children become extremely nervous when they see their parents forgetting their keys or forgetting the little things they just said. Of course, we must also pay attention to distinguish between normal aging and abnormal signs. If the elderly forget what they have eaten just after eating, cannot find their home in a neighborhood where they are familiar, or cannot even call the names of those close to them, these are early warning signs that they need to seek medical treatment as soon as possible.