In everyday language, it’s common to hear expressions that link aging with memory loss. Today, however, medicine invites us to better understand these processes and to use more precise terms.
A common but mistaken expression
“Pedro! Can you believe our neighbor has senile dementia?”
“I know! Oh, Carlota… the man is already 80, what more can we expect from life?”
These are things we often hear. “Senile dementia” is a term that modern medicine has already reassessed, yet many people still use it to describe an older adult with memory loss, disoriented in time and space, who has been wrongly labeled as “crazy.”
Where the term "senile" comes from
The word senile comes from the Latin senilis, meaning “relating to old people,” and it has become popular over time. Today, however, the health sector has a responsibility to educate people about how diseases progress, especially those that cause short-term memory loss and decline in higher cognitive functions.
The real cause of cognitive decline
Being old is not the same as losing your memory. It is neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia or Lewy body dementia that can trigger major neurocognitive disorder; in simpler terms, what we know as dementia.
What happens in dementia?
An adult with major neurocognitive disorder experiences progressive memory loss due to changes in the mental processes that allow us to acquire, process, store and apply knowledge. Awareness of self-care, self-perception, self-control and self-recognition are also affected.
Risk factors we can change
It’s important to emphasize that modifiable risk factors (such as low education, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, an unhealthy diet, social isolation, depression, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity) can, over the years, lead to the development of a neurodegenerative disease.
A task for all of us
Finally, it’s essential to become more aware of healthy lifestyle habits. Promoting a new longevity, grounded in good health and allowing for an active and dignified old age, is a task for all of us. To make this possible, we need to start at an early age, teaching children, teenagers and young people to take care of their bodies and, above all, their most important organ: the brain.
