Reservas cognitivas no envelhecimento típico e com declínio cognitivo : ênfase na leitura e na escolaridade

Abstract

With the increase in life expectancy due to the growth of the elderly population, it would be inevitable that the difficulties related to physical, social and cognitive issues of this population would become even more evident, nationally and worldwide. One of them is the increase in cases of dementia, as the tendency to develop dementia increases with advancing age. Therefore, this study aimed to bring up a discussion about the role of cognitive reserves and how factors such as education and reading and writing habits can help to preserve cognition and language in aging. For reach this aim, the types of dementia were addressed in this study, with an emphasis on Alzheimer's Disease, responsible for up to 60% of cases. In addition, data on existing public policies for this age group in our country were presented, followed by discussions on the impact of reading, writing and schooling on the preservation of language and cognition in aging, factors that are part of cognitive reserves. Results showed that there is a need for updating and the creation of public prevention policies and the development of strategies so that there is a delay in new cases of dementia diseases. Considering that education, as well as reading and writing habits - aspects that have scarcely been studied - can help building cognitive reserve and be a tool to collaborate in the fulfillment of these strategies, the importance of this theme is emphasized, in order to prevent or minimize the development of dementia diseases in the future.