As our population ages, senior citizens driving vehicles on our streets becomes an increasing concern. An aging friend recently told me, “I had to stop driving to [a neighboring town] because when I got there I couldn’t remember why I had come half the time. Then I couldn’t remember how to get back home.”

When memory loss reaches this point there is little we can do except to encourage our friends and loved ones to stop driving. This can be a traumatic and discouraging time for everyone involved. Many experts believe that there is nothing that can be done to forestall these crises. Nevertheless, I have some advice that may actually delay the trauma, and which is likely to surprise you.

My advice is to encourage your aging friends and loved ones to drive as much as possible before memory loss makes it impossible, especially before the onset of memory loss begins. Even after it begins we may be able to slow it down by allowing our aging friends to drive under safe and positive circumstances.

It is common for caregivers to try to minimize the opportunities that aging folks have to drive. For example, as our relatives and acquaintances grow older, we tend to run errands for them or, when they need to go somewhere, we drive them. On these occasions, we should look for opportunities to let them do the driving, with us as passengers and, where necessary, navigators. This not only gives them driving practice, it gives them confidence and gives us the chance to evaluate their driving ability fairly.

Driving is the type of activity that works well to stimulate memory. It requires a combination of physical operation, concentration, perceptual judgment, and recall of landmarks and goals. Any skill which involves these factors will tend to decline unless it is practiced.

The next time you think about calling an older person to ask if they would like to go out for a drive, why not suggest that they do the driving. You can assure them that you will be patient and will be there to help if necessary. Suggest that you go somewhere that they are very familiar with, maybe more familiar than you are. For example: “Why don’t you take me out to that little church in the country your family attended when you were a girl.” Now you have set up a positive driving experience that will also reinforce memory. Let me know how it goes!

Related Posts:

• The latest (not good) news about Ginkgo Biloba and memory loss
• Halt memory loss with brain games
• National Memory Screening Day in the U.S.

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