3 ARTICLES RELATED TO DEMENTIA & COGNITIVE CHANGES

These three articles tie together recent stories in the news related to cognitive changes in aging.  The third article about Robin Wiliams, though not current, will add context and familiarity for the students.  Also the Psychology Website and App of the Week provide resources for students interested in the problems of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia.  These readings can be used in conjunction with later adult development, the cognitive chapters, health Psychology, as well as topics in the are of organic problems in psychopathology.  This is a requested republication of the topic.

ARTICLE #1

TITLE

Traumatic Brain Injuries Are Tied to Dementia

DESCRIPTION

Over the passed number of years, a number of questions have arisen regarding head injury and especially concussion in sports.  But what about other types of head injury that result in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)?  “In the largest study of its kind, researchers have found that traumatic brain injury is associated with an increased risk of dementia. The risk of dementia was highest among people who had suffered multiple T.B.I.s. But even a single mild T.B.I. was tied to an increased risk of dementia.”  Understanding these results and applying them to the developmental stages of aging, it becomes more comprehensible in the understanding of the dangers of falling and the sequelae of these injuries.   This brief article can be used in conjunction with both the chapters on aging as well as brain injury.

SOURCE

New York Times, April 10, 2018, by Nicholas Bakalar

LINK TO RESOURCE

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/well/mind/traumatic-brain-injuries-are-tied-to-dementia.html

(Tiny URL)  http://tinyurl.com/y8bglspm

ARTICLE #2

TITLE

How Exercise May Help Protect Your Brain From Cognitive Decline and Dementia

DESCRIPTION

There have been many studies that show correlations between exercise and increased better physical and mental health.  This article discusses a study that demonstrates these findings.  Conversely, “Older adults with poor fitness levels have more deterioration of white matter in their brains, according to a new study, compared with their fitter peers.”  In this study which researched physiological measurements of exercise,”…the researchers found that older adults with higher VO2 max scores—meaning they had better cardiorespiratory fitness—had less deterioration of the white-matter fibers in their brains.”  Hence, exercise does have a positive effect on slowing cognitive decline.   It is worth noting that the research is very much explained and can be used with students in understanding how the science paradigm can be used to study important facets of aging.

SOURCE

Time, February 16, 2018, by Amanda MacMillan

LINK TO RESOURCE

http://time.com/5162477/exercise-risk-dementia/

(Tiny URL)  http://tinyurl.com/ybrcuff9

ARTICLE #3

TITLE

How Lewy Body Dementia Gripped Robin Williams

DESCRIPTION

“In the months before his death, Robin Williams was besieged by paranoia and so confused he couldn’t remember his lines while filming a movie, as his brain was ambushed by what doctors later identified as an unusually severe case of Lewy body dementia.”  The article discusses Mr. Williams’s problems as the dementia progressed.  Part of the article includes an interview with his wife and will help your students understand the human side of the suffering from this type of dementia.  The article “chronicles Williams’s desperation as he sought to understand a bewildering array of symptoms that started with insomnia, constipation, and an impaired sense of smell and soon spiraled into extreme anxiety, tremors, and difficulty reasoning.”

SOURCE

Scientific American, September 30, 2016, by Rebecca Robbins

LINK TO RESOURCE

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-lewy-body-dementia-gripped-robin-williams1/

(Tiny URL)  http://tinyurl.com/yct7pxxq

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

•These articles can be used in a discussion of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, aging, cognition and age, and also in the topic of organic brain disorders in terms of psychopathology.

•Begin with the question:  What is dementia?  What are the symptoms? Causes? Treatments?

•What is the relationship between Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and dementia?

•What are the findings based upon the research on exercise and progress of dementia and cognitive decline?

•What is Lewy Body dementia?   Is there treatment?  (The discussion can focus on some of the statements in the Robin Williams article.)