According to the Alzheimer’s Association, MCI causes cognitive changes that are serious enough to be noticed, but the changes are not severe enough to interfere with daily life or independent function. In many cases, the individual will be quite aware of his or her memory difficulties and will compensate with increased reliance on notes and calendars. Others with MCI may have mild difficulties with daily activities, such as pursuing their hobbies. For some people, MCI progresses to dementia; the resulting memory loss disrupts daily life significantly and living alone is no longer safe.
At Senior Living Residences we believe that people with MCI can function independently and deserve the right to continue to live independently, but that doesn’t mean living alone with memory loss is optimal. And yet, many seniors live alone in their homes, isolated from regular companionship, while dealing with memory loss and confusion that may gradually be worsening.
Dr. Robert Stern of the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center says the research shows that “maintaining strong social connections may offer the biggest brain boost” of all of the lifestyle interventions that people have control over, such as exercising regularly and eating a healthy Mediterranean style diet. Staying social offers so many benefits that the Mayo Clinic lists “infrequent participation in mentally or socially stimulating activities” as one of the lifestyle factors have been linked to an increased risk of cognitive change.
We know it sounds self-serving to urge you to think about moving to a Senior Living community if you have early memory loss or MCI, but we have seen first-hand how lives have been enriched by the social, supportive, intellectually stimulating environment that a senior living community provides. We wish more people suffering silently with MCI would leave their homes to embark on a new adventure and embrace a higher quality of life for themselves, and peace of mind for their adult children!