Cooking could show symptoms of dementia, especially when the person has difficulty following a recipe or performing simple tasks.
- Some symptoms of dementia might be visible in the way you cook.
- For example, difficulty following the steps of a recipe.
- In this case, we speak of apraxia, which “is a loss of the ability to perform tasks that require memorizing patterns or sequences of movements.”
It is an a priori harmless activity, without health issues and yet, cooking could say a lot about health… An article from Huffington Post UK explains that symptoms of dementia, even in its early stages, may be visible during this activity.
Apraxia: the difficulties are seen in the way of cooking
When everything is going well, we don’t realize it, but cooking requires significant skills. The same ones which, when they fail, can be a sign of dementia. Indeed, according to the association Alzheimer’s UKpreparing a meal can show a person’s difficulties in planning and organizing, “for example, having difficulty completing the steps of a daily task in the correct order (such as preparing a meal)”, which are signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
And it has nothing to do with physical strength. We are talking here about apraxia, which “is a loss of ability to perform tasks that require memorizing patterns or sequences of movements, can we read in the MSD Manual. People with apraxia cannot memorize or complete a sequence of movements necessary to perform simple specialized or complex tasks, even if they are physically capable of doing them.”
Inability to follow steps, a symptom of Alzheimer’s
As confirmed by Dr. Richard Restak, neurologist and neuropsychiatrist, in his work How to prevent dementia, the brains of people with apraxia are unable to follow steps. And this, even if, in the context of a cooking recipe, they knew the steps or read them in a cookbook.
So, during the next cooking workshop with family or friends, be vigilant for these symptoms. If you notice them in someone you know, it is best to advise them to consult a doctor who can rule out or make a diagnosis of dementia as soon as possible. As a reminder,Worldwide, more than 55 million people have dementia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Every year there are almost 10 million new cases.
