Community Should Know about Aging and Cognitive Health
By C. Naseer Ahmad
Washington, DC
As we age, both our body and the mind are subject to decline. The toll taken by the aging process is dependent upon a number of factors some of which we can control - like our lifestyle and diet - and others - like the gene pool, potential hereditary diseases and environmental hazards – are beyond individual control.
With time, our cognitive health – i.e. the ability to clearly think, learn, and remember – becomes at risk, especially in advancing years. There are a number of things we can do and should do to actively try to maintain cognitive health.
Courtesy of the German Embassy in Washington, we learn about an interesting conference on Cognitive Health in Berlin in November 2018. This fascinating event brings together experts from academic institutions, medical professionals, and pharmaceutical industry as well as technology companies to exchange ideas and explore new initiatives on cognitive health.
A very useful report by Harvard Medical School describes a six-step program for maintaining cognitive health. “The heart of our cognitive fitness program, however, involves lifestyle changes,” say the expert at Harvard Medical School.
• Step 1: Eat a plant-based diet
• Step 2: Exercise regularly
• Step 3: Get enough sleep
• Step 4: Manage your stress
• Step 5: Nurture social contacts
• Step 6: Continue to challenge your brain
The National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging (https://www.nia.nih.gov/) provides very useful information that reinforces these simple concepts advised by Harvard Medical School. In fact, there is a lot of practical information for those who are aging – or caregivers for the elderly.
The awareness about relationship of an active lifestyle involving physical exercise is felt across the world. Sarah Boseley, Guardian newspaper’s Health Editor, wrote on July 3, 2018 that “walking is just not enough, according to a new review of the evidence from Public Health England (PHE)”. According to PHE, “in older adults, poor muscle strength increased the risk of a fall by 76%.” About the recommendations of British Health experts, the article reminds that “fewer people have taken on board the need to stand more and sit less and muscle strengthening and balance have been largely forgotten.”
In a point related to the lifestyles brought up by NIH, Harvard Medical School as well as Cleveland Clinic’s helpful tweets, the German news service Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com) informs that “the number of cancers related to unhealthy lifestyles has increased over the past ten years, according to a study by the Global Burden of Disease Cancer Collaboration. Lung cancer, which is greatly associated with smoking, was found to be the most common deadliest type of cancer, with two million diagnoses and 1.7 million deaths in 2016. Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer.”
Aging, however, need not be considered negatively. “Longevity has its place,” said Reverend Martin Luther King in his “I have been to the Mountain Top” speech before his unfortunate death at a young age at the hands of a cruel assassin.
Living amongst us are some role models who are exemplars of a meaningful active retirement and robust physical activity. Take for example, a former colleague Bill Kennedy of Charleston, SC with whom I worked in Egypt at the Ministry of Finance on a US AID project and saw him run daily in the oppressive Cairo Heat. At 84, he still runs and swims in the creek near his house. At 85, Chaudhry Fazal Ahmad is sharp as a whistle and drives regularly to the Mubarak Mosque, Chantilly, Virginia to make the call to prayers – despite having some issues recently with a pace-maker – and actively serves his community in recording member donations.
Another example is DrRiazHaider, a retired associate professor at George Washington University and an eminent physician who has recently authored the book “A Triumphant Voyage – Great Achievements in Cardiology.” During lunch recently at the Congressional Country Club, Potomac, MD, DrHaider explained to me his exercise regimen – continuing at age 84 - in the gymnasium of his club where he still plays golf and tennis regularly.
In the context of cognitive health, NIH notes that continued social play an important role for a meaningful life. This is where periodic lunch or dinner meetings with DrHaider become important because in addition to nutritious meals, one get a lot of food for thought. As we have common friends, these lunches provide an opportunity to discuss achievements of friends like Dr Akbar Ahmed and find ways to support such friends.
Healthy and sustainable relationships are those that focus on greater social good rather than being self-centered. For example, the lunch time discussion with medical experts like DrHaider would be on education, helping some Pakistani or other students at the International Student House, where he serves as a Board Director or helping the community in general.
Education, perhaps continuing education, is the key to many problems faced during the aging process. This is a point stressed HE Ambassador Martin Dahinden, Switzerland’s Ambassador to the US and Board Member, World Demographic and Ageing Forum during a detailed discussion in his office on “Aging.”
Each person within the larger community can find role models to follow, groups to associate with or help those in need. In my own little community, there is a society of elders – formally known as Ansarallah – that convenes regularly holding educational seminars and even old fashioned physically intensive games like kabadi. All these activities are consistent with the guidelines coming out from NIH and Harvard Medical School for maintaining cognitive health in advancing years.
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