nursing1

Caringfortheelderly 41

Inthis unit

•    carehomes

•    theageingbrain

•    Alzheimer's disease

•    will

•    describing the problems of the elderly

•    aids used by the elderly

Reading

V. r.te your name as fast as you can with your right rand. then do the same with your left hand. Was one t=s:er? Does it look better? Discuss the reason why vr.th a partner.

2 F ea d the article, and decide if these sentences are rr^e T) or false (F).

I You can learn to write with the wrong hand. _

I Learning makes new nerve cells grow.    _

: As we get older, large numbers of brain

cells die.    _

- Ifour brain is healthy, it continues

to develop when we are old.    _

^r Mental stimulation keeps your

memory good.    _

3 Find words in the text with these meanings. 1 to make things happen at the same time

2    to change the electrical connections

r_

3    conditions that kill brain cells

d___

4    loss of the ability to use your brain well

m_d_

5    connected to getting old

a_-r_

6 the ability to control your body's movement

m.

Old age and the h

4 Try these brain exercises. Do you know any others?

Name the colours of the following words as fast as you can. Don't read the words but say what colour they are.

ram

u Łold a pen in your ‘wrong’ hand, writing hecomes forta hic ant 1 difficult. But leoep doinwj it and you

LaS get hettcr at it - you leam. 1 his is hccause connections Jpftwcn neurons in your hrain get stronger, and your hrain

early ycars our hrains grow verv fast as we learn ige, writing, numhers, musie, and howto coordinate lent. By the time we are teenagers, each neuron in hrain has connected to tens ol lhousands of ■■t&cr neurons, and every time we havc a new HLxifeht or memory, our hrains make new Hinnections. Jusl as muscles get stronger hy using nfce“ . the hrain devclops when it is stimulated.

■*' tkout stimulation, it gradually dies.

ilthy hrain does not lose huge numhers of Lriin cells as it ages. It continues to rewire itself lani grow new neurons. However, degencrative hrain jpfteases are very common in old ago, and so we associate leni with diseases such as Alzheimer’* disease.

though these diseases are very common in the , it is a mistake to lliinl? thal old age automatically mental dccline. When elderly people who do not Alzheimer s disease suffer age-related losses of

and motor shills, it is often not hecause of ageing, auseof inactivitv and lacie ol mental stimulation.

BLUE    PURPLE Y LOW

MULTICOLOURED ORANGE RED BLACK PINK WHITE GREY

Read a page of writing upside-down.

r I ^