''Mayores y jóvenes debemos ejercitar nuestra memoria para prevenir enfermedades como el Alzheimer''
''Older and younger people should exercise our report to prevent diseases such as Alzheimer's''.
María Javier Ramírez, professor at the University of Navarra, gives a workshop at report in a course on neuropsychiatric disorders in the elderly.
For María Javier Ramírez, professor and researcher at School of Pharmacy at the University of Navarra, "everyone, old, young or middle-aged, should exercise our report, since the brain is like a muscle that must always be worked if we want to have a fit mind".
This was recalled by the expert on the occasion of a course on neuropsychiatric diseases in the elderly patient. This meeting -aimed at professionals in Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, etc., who work with the elderly- analyzes important aspects such as depression in the elderly, the treatment of Parkinson's disease, cerebrovascular accidents or the use of analgesics.
In addition, the course - which runs until next Friday, February 4 - includes a workshop at report given by María Javier Ramírez. "These workshops are already done in psychiatric-geriatric centers and institutions caring for the elderly. However, there are small things we can all do at home, such as doing hobbies that require working with our vocabulary, exercising our attention, refreshing mathematical and visual skills, etc.".
The specialist also recommends writing something every day: "With the new technologies, we write less and less, and it is an excellent exercise for report. We just need to get into the habit, for example, of making a shopping list every week. Or that we try to read the newspaper and then summarize the main headlines or news we have seen".
Helping our head to remember
According to María Javier Ramírez, who participates in research projects on Alzheimer's at research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) at the University of Navarra, "these workshops bring together the basic techniques we use for learning. Among them, memorization by association. For example, if we want to remember a telephone issue it may be good to memorize it while dialing it."
On the other hand, report workshops can be the first place for caregivers and specialists to detect pathological problems, indicative of serious ailments such as Alzheimer's disease. "The important thing is to distinguish normal, physiological deterioration, which can be reversed with exercises, from more serious deterioration, which it is essential to identify as soon as possible, because although we cannot cure it, we can slow down its progress," stresses the expert.
sample Regarding the usefulness of video games, which are promoted as a way to improve report, the researcher said: "We all forget. The important thing is to know it and help our head to remember".