It is a primarily harmless activity, with no health problems and yet, cooking can tell a lot about health. An article from… Huffington Post UK Explains that symptoms of dementia, even in its early stages, can appear during this activity.
Apraxia: Difficulty in cooking
When everything is going well, we don’t realize it, but cooking requires considerable skill. Which, when they fail, can be a sign of dementia. Indeed, according to the association Alzheimer’s UK“Preparing meals can reveal 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 about apraxia here, which is “Loss of ability to perform tasks that require memorizing patterns or sequences of movements, can be read in MSD Manual. People with apraxia cannot remember or complete the sequence of movements required to perform common specialized or complex tasks, even if they are physically able to do them.“
Inability to follow steps, a symptom of Alzheimer’s
Dr. Confirmed in his work by Richard Restuck, neurologist and neuropsychiatrist How to prevent dementia, the brain of people with apraxia is unable to follow steps. And this, even if, in terms of a cooking recipe, they know the steps or read them in a cookbook.
So, during the next cooking workshop with family or friends, be on the lookout for these symptoms. If you see them in someone you know, it’s best to advise them to consult a doctor who can rule out or diagnose dementia as soon as possible. As a reminder,Worldwide, more than 55 million people have dementia, according to World Health Organization (WHO). About 10 million new cases are reported every year.
