Rawalpindi : While wrinkles and silver hair are visible signs of ageing, our brains' gradual changes are often overlooked -- until these changes start affecting our daily lives seriously through a decline in one or more areas of our mental function and a noticeable reduction in mental abilities like memory, attention, language and executive functions including planning and decision making.
A renowned consultant neurosurgeon Professor Dr Aslan Javed Munir expressed this while talking to 'The News' on Sunday on brain and cognition. He said our mental abilities help us understand and interact with the world. These include memory (recalling names or events), attention (staying focused on tasks), language (expressing and understanding speech), problem solving and decision making and spatial skills (navigating streets, driving or recognizing faces etc). When your mental faculties begin to falter or slow down, it is called cognitive decline, he added. The phenomenon is painful and the problem must be given due attention.
Further explaining cognitive decline, he said have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you went there? Or found yourself struggling to remember a familiar name during conversation? On ways to keep one's brain sharp, Dr Aslan opined that ageing is inevitable but serious memory loss is not.
To protect the brain from cognitive decline, he said simple steps are required. One should keep oneself physically active as brisk walking, gardening or light exercises help improve blood flow to the brain. We should aim for at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week, he said.
