I am beginning to think that my husband’s brain is working harder than ever thanks to PD. The circuitry that used to handle the day-to-day actions of living has gone haywire and now every move has to be thoroughly thought through. In an effort to better understand the challenges he faces, I turned to the American Parkinson’s Disease Association website where Dr. Jennifer Goldman from the Department of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center writes “Executive dysfunction is one of the most common cognitive changes reported in PD.” She goes on to say that this disease and changes it brings to his brain can interfere with my husband’s ability to plan or organize his day and multitasking or even just changing from one task to another becomes difficult.

It doesn’t stop there, working memory and visuospatial functioning are often impacted. The struggles my husband faces trying to do daily tasks? That’s because his working memory doesn’t retain the needed skills as well anymore. His visuospatial functioning can be impaired which causes an inability to accurately judge where his body is in the world around him and creates balance issues.

What can I do to help? First, I need to make sure that his neurologist knows what is happening and advocate for cognitive testing to check for signs of decline. There are medications that might help, but the most effective tool we can use is the same as the one for physical challenges, he needs to exercise his body and his mind. He needs to move his body and work his brain so that the neurons know what to do and can keep on doing it. Puzzles, games, reading, yoga, boxing, walking and talking are all great activities to stave off mental deterioration and help keep us both active and alive and in the battle with PD for another day.

To read more on this fascinating topic, click here to check out Dr. Goldman’s entire article entitled Cognitive Changes.