The Earliest Signs of Cognitive Decline
One of the biggest challenges in cognitive decline is that by the time memory symptoms appear, the disease process has often been unfolding for years.
This is one of the central lessons from our movement. Cognitive decline does not begin when someone forgets a name, misses an appointment, or gets lost driving home. Those symptoms are often the final stage of a process that has been quietly developing for a decade or more.
That is why I am always interested in early signals.
A fascinating study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia in 2022 followed 287 adults for 15 years. All participants had normal cognition when the study began. Researchers measured their walking speed over time and tracked who eventually developed cognitive decline.
The results were striking.
