Add news
March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010
August 2010
September 2010 October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 December 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 November 2013 December 2013 January 2014 February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 July 2014 August 2014 September 2014 October 2014 November 2014 December 2014 January 2015 February 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 June 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 January 2016 February 2016 March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 January 2017 February 2017 March 2017 April 2017 May 2017 June 2017 July 2017 August 2017 September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 December 2017 January 2018 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018 November 2018 December 2018 January 2019 February 2019 March 2019 April 2019 May 2019 June 2019 July 2019 August 2019 September 2019 October 2019 November 2019 December 2019 January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020 January 2021 February 2021 March 2021 April 2021 May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 August 2021 September 2021 October 2021 November 2021 December 2021 January 2022 February 2022 March 2022 April 2022 May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 August 2022 September 2022 October 2022 November 2022 December 2022 January 2023 February 2023 March 2023 April 2023 May 2023 June 2023 July 2023 August 2023 September 2023 October 2023 November 2023 December 2023 January 2024 February 2024 March 2024 April 2024 May 2024 June 2024 July 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
News Every Day |

Joe Biden’s ‘Cognitive Fluctuations’

Last Thursday was not a good day for Joe Biden. During the president’s shaky and at times incoherent debate performance, he appeared weaker and frailer in real time than the American public had ever seen. Friday appears to have been a much better day. At a campaign rally in North Carolina, clips of which his campaign distributed online, the president seemed like an entirely different man. Lively and invigorated, he spoke with a ferocity that had eluded him on the debate stage.

Both his supporters and detractors have turned this yo-yoing into a talking point that has come up frequently in the days since the debate: The president has good days and bad days. Biden himself has said that he “didn’t have my best debate night,” and his press secretary spun the performance as the result of a cold rather than “an episode.” Indeed, earlier this year, at the State of the Union, Biden appeared much more lucid.

Many people have pointed to Biden’s inconsistencies as indicative of something more serious, and the challenge—perhaps the insurmountable challenge for the White House—is that it is unclear which version of Biden will show up next. The president is slated to appear in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday, and as The New York Times reported earlier today, Biden understands that another bad performance may doom his candidacy. There are many reasons a person could swing between good days and bad days. Some of them are benign. Some of them are threatening a presidency.

At 81, some cognitive unevenness is to be expected. It’s also to be expected for Donald Trump, who is 78. The brain slows down as a person gets older, Steven P. Woods, a psychology professor at the University of Houston, told me. Learning and remembering don’t come as easily as they used to. Flubbing a word here or there is one thing. But executive functioning—higher-order processes that enable planning and cognitive flexibility—tends to decline too. As a result, cognition becomes less consistent. The notion of good versus bad days falls under a scientific category encompassing spontaneous changes in attention and consciousness: cognitive fluctuations. As people get older, they may experience more frequent and more significant fluctuations than before. Parts of the brain involved in learning and complex functions can shrink, and communication among certain neurons can break down.

The big question, Woods said, is “what happens when fluctuations become abnormal?” What constitutes unusual cognitive variability depends entirely on the person’s overall health. A brief decline in energy or focus isn’t, on its own, a cause for concern, Woods said. Needing the occasional nap would not by itself render someone unfit for the nation’s highest office. But it could be a problem if accompanied by consistent cognitive shifts, significant medical changes, or impairments to daily life. “If you have a fluctuation where you’re no longer able to manage your day-to-day, even for a period of time, that would be abnormal to me,” Jeremy Pruzin, a cognitive-behavioral neurologist at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, told me.

Not all fluctuations caused by aging are that severe. But age is a risk factor for conditions that can worsen fluctuations, such as dementia and neurodegenerative diseases. Brain trauma, certain infectious diseases, and mood disorders are also associated with those changes. Fluctuation can take place within days, not just between them: Sundowning, largely associated with Alzheimer’s disease, refers to cognitive issues that arise in the late afternoon and early evening.

A bad day can be part of a constellation of symptoms. In people with Parkinson’s disease, for example, cognitive fluctuations can accompany a soft voice, a shuffling gait, an inability to move fluidly, and a decrease in facial expression, Pruzin said. Cognitive fluctuations are also the cardinal feature of Lewy body disease, a type of dementia. According to Pruzin, people with this illness can “seem rather out of it for periods of time, then seemingly back to or close to normal within the course of hours or a day.”

Biden has not reported having any of these ailments. After an annual physical in February, the president’s doctor said he was “fit for duty,” though Biden was not administered a cognitive test. But after last week, it’s entirely understandable that many Americans are asking whether something more serious is wrong with the president.

Biden’s cognitive variability isn’t necessarily a sign of illness, or even old age. “We all experience good days and bad days,” regardless of age, Alexandra Fiocco, a psychology professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, told me. People misplace their coffee cups, forget the names of their colleagues, stare blankly at laptops. Nobody can be “on” all the time. Fluctuations are just part of “normal human cognition,” Woods said.

External factors, such as lack of sleep, low physical activity, high stress, and certain prescription medications, can play a role. The effects of a spoiled tuna sandwich or a bad breakup can easily derail cognition. Some people naturally experience more fluctuations than others—psychologists call this “intra-individual variability”—owing to many variables, including differences in biology and brain pathology.

Unfortunately for voters, there are more questions than answers about what caused Biden’s bad night. You can’t gauge cognitive variability based on a few media appearances, or even a prolonged debate. Usually, doing so requires a battery of tests and long-term observation. There is a tendency to assume that older adults have dementia when less dire factors, such as lack of sleep and dehydration, may be at play, Fiocco told me. It takes the whole picture “to determine whether somebody’s just having a bad day, or if this dramatic bad day is part of a broader syndrome related to a disease,” Pruzin noted.

The public’s skepticism about Biden’s health is understandable. U.S. presidents have a record of keeping Americans in the dark about their health woes. See also: Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Certainly, it’s possible that Biden didn’t get enough sleep, was especially stressed, or was impaired by a cold, as his team said last Thursday. But that possibility can coexist with another: He is just old.

Москва

Пробежал, как тень: неизвестный мужчина выскочил под колёса машины на трассе М-5

Portugal vs France – Euro 2024: Ronaldo and Mbappe have one last dance in quarter-final tie – stream FREE, TV, team news

Sky Sports issue grovelling apology to Nottingham Forest after Gary Neville’s ‘Mafia gang’ outburst

‘I made it work that night’: Stevenson reflects on negative fan response as he readies for next outing

Leeloo Dolls: Your Premier Destination for Realistic Sex Dolls

Ria.city






Read also

Healthy Carrot Cake Cookies - Healthy Hacks

Can You Ever Really Crossover?

F1 British GP: Russell leads Hamilton in wet final practice

News, articles, comments, with a minute-by-minute update, now on Today24.pro

News Every Day

Portugal vs France – Euro 2024: Ronaldo and Mbappe have one last dance in quarter-final tie – stream FREE, TV, team news

Today24.pro — latest news 24/7. You can add your news instantly now — here


News Every Day

‘I made it work that night’: Stevenson reflects on negative fan response as he readies for next outing



Sports today


Новости тенниса
Уимблдон

Шарапова обнимала принцессу Беатрис и получила поздравления от Доронина: 20-летие победы теннисистки на Уимблдоне



Спорт в России и мире
Москва

"Спартак" объявил о расторжении контракта с Кейта Бальде



All sports news today





Sports in Russia today

Москва

Шахматы и йога: что ждет посетителей «Лета в Москве. Все на улицу!» в выходные


Новости России

Game News

Релиз Otherworld Three Kingdoms на смартфонах — новичкам дают 100 гача-круток


Russian.city


Энди Маррей

Энди Маррей заявил о желании стать тренером


Губернаторы России
Коммерсантъ

В оборонных хищениях наступила свобода // Из семи фигурантов громкого дела отсидит только один


КАК АНТАГОНИСТ МОЖЕТ ИЗМЕНИТЬ МИР ИЛИ ИСТОРИЯ ОДНОГО МОСКОВСКОГО РЭПЕРА.

Переподготовка "ПГС: проектирование зданий (расчётно-конструктивный раздел)”

Совладелец «ТЕХНОНИКОЛЬ» Игорь Рыбаков запустил на Дальнем Востоке бизнес-клуб «Эквиум»

МЧС Подмосковья: ураган повалил 123 дерева и повредил 11 машин


Филипп Киркоров, Баста, Тимати, Seville и другие гости открытия средиземноморского ресторана Zea

Крестная дочь Григория Лепса Елизиавета в кроп-топе спела на сцене

В Устьянском округе вспоминали Юрия Визбора

"Вот и конец оперы": Нетребко и Эйвазов расстаются спустя 10 лет счастливого брака


Уроженка Москвы выбила с Уимблдона первую ракетку мира

Хачанов не смог выйти в третий круг Уимблдона, проиграв 220-й ракетке мира

Помощник Медведева заявил, что «дух Навального жив» и продолжает публиковать фейки о связи с «Мираторгом»

Энди Маррей заявил о желании стать тренером



МЧС Подмосковья: ураган повалил 123 дерева и повредил 11 машин

КАК АНТАГОНИСТ МОЖЕТ ИЗМЕНИТЬ МИР ИЛИ ИСТОРИЯ ОДНОГО МОСКОВСКОГО РЭПЕРА.

В ОМ Девелопмент рассказали, как рынок отреагирует на отмену льготной ипотеки

Врач посоветовала, как пережить аномальную жару


"Динамо" по пенальти проиграло "Партизану" в первом матче нового сезона

Начальник сервисного локомотивного депо «Иваново» филиала «Северный» ООО «ЛокоТех-Сервис» Сергей Черемохин принял участие во вручении дипломов студентам Ивановского железнодорожного колледжа

На Улан-Удэнском ЛВРЗ начали тестирование промышленных экзоскелетов

РБК: кабмин РФ рассматривает вариант снижения максимальной суммы IT-ипотеки


Маленький домовой за диваном: История нашего читателя

Молния ударила в летевший из Москвы в Новосибирск самолет

«Отстранили от полетов»: молния попала в самолет Москва—Новосибирск

Мужчина забил до смерти соседку в московской квартире



Путин в России и мире






Персональные новости Russian.city
Диана Арбенина

«Он был очень классным». Отец двойняшек Дианы Арбениной погиб



News Every Day

Portugal vs France – Euro 2024: Ronaldo and Mbappe have one last dance in quarter-final tie – stream FREE, TV, team news




Friends of Today24

Музыкальные новости

Персональные новости