According to recent news from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC), the figure for those needing Alzheimer’s care has doubled in the last two decades. Over the next few decades, it is anticipated that this figure will nearly triple in size.
As a response to that, memory care providers are in the process of creating programs (based on evidence they have garnered) to manage and delay symptoms. One example of this is The Lantern Group which is engaging in the process of repeating everyday tasks with its residents.
The idea is that people are able to shape the cognitive capacity ad overall “functional size” of a brain. As such – explained Jean Makesh at the NIC 2017 Fall Conference – repeating a task hundreds of times can re-shape cognitive capacity. This concept is known as neuroplasticity.