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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

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  • 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.

  • 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 

  • 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 B

    I wonder if the stylites and other eremitic saints suffered cognitive decline? They believed themselves to be in a conversation with God, however.

    This must vary enormously, I have a very rich interior life, if ever imprisoned I would much prefer solitary confinement over having to socialise.

    The central question is, if the social brain - in reality a diffuse network within the brain - lacks stimulation and degrades, would that equate with losing other cognitive functions and result in a general cognitive decline, or would the decline be isolated and other regions and functions be unaffected? 

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  • in reply to B

    I wonder if the stylites and other eremitic saints suffered cognitive decline? They believed themselves to be in a conversation with God, however.

    This must vary enormously, I have a very rich interior life, if ever imprisoned I would much prefer solitary confinement over having to socialise.

    The central question is, if the social brain - in reality a diffuse network within the brain - lacks stimulation and degrades, would that equate with losing other cognitive functions and result in a general cognitive decline, or would the decline be isolated and other regions and functions be unaffected? 

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