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Dementia

Moon

Just curious about this. 

I have recently been sent a bunch of emails about this with some guidelines on how to help myself. One of these was socialising. Given the choice between meeting and talking to people on a social level and being by myself and enjoying life. Guess which one I would chose. 

The 2 seem opposed to each other. I have 1 friend that I absolutely trust with my life and that really is all I need. I even have to have a break from her. But not sure it counts as socialising.

has anyone any thoughts on this

  • in reply to B

    I'm becoming less social by choice as I get older, I find socialising stressful, other people find socialising wtth me stressful, I don't drink, I'm vegetarian and lactose intolerant, I don't swim or ride bycylces, I'm unable to do most sorts of exercise classes, not that I do groups anyway, so what is there left for me to do with people?

    I do puzzles, I walk daily, I eat a healthy diet, I garden, I read both fiction and non fiction.

    I do my socialising on here, I can have as much or as little as I want, I dont' need people to be physically present. 

    I wonder if we manifest demntia differently to NT's? I've heard it said that autistics are more prone to dementia, the first thing I thought was Why? I don't think I believe that we are particularly prone to it, I wonder if the diagnostic criteria need changing when dealing with an ND population, how many of us seek out company? Many of us have so many hobbies and things that we find deeply interesting, we don't want to be disturbed to go and do armchair airobics or something.

  • in reply to B

    There must be a very considerable overlap. Socialising, if we discount smell, consists of visual, aural and possibly tactile inputs and largely motor outputs. It is using the parts of the brain that control the interpretation and production of speech, vision, higher cognitive functions and the motor areas. I suspect that all of these brain areas could be stimulated and used in some solitary activities. Even the production of speech is now possible with AI chatbots.

  • in reply to Martin
    Martin said:
    I think it is more about keeping the brain active, rather than socialising as such

    I wonder whether different parts of the brain are stimulated by social as opposed to solitary activities Thinking 

  • I think the 'staving off dementia' advice is aimed at allistics. Allistics tend to get lots of positive feedback and stimulation from social interactions, autistic people less so, or too much for comfort. I think it is more about keeping the brain active, rather than socialising as such. I keep my brain active by reading, writing stuff on Wikipedia and arguing with people about politics online. I think that whatever floats your boat and keeps your brain active and engaged is all that is required.

  • I think this would probably be a bit of an issue for quite a few (most?) autistic people.

    We are more likely to do the other sorts of things that help eg. puzzles and quizzes.

    I do think though that some social contact does help to keep the brain active.

    This is a very pertinent question for latelings like me who was diagnosed at 60.