People’s brains change as they age. It’s a scary idea, one that immediately conjures up ideas of cognitive decline and even dementia. Thankfully, severe cognitive issues aren’t inevitable. Many people live long lives and retain their cognitive function throughout. The use of mind games and brain exercises for seniors might help.
The idea here is simple – keeping the senior’s mind active should help to strengthen neural connections, reducing the risk of problems. Some brain exercises for seniors take the idea one step further. Here, the idea isn’t just to keep the mind active, but to challenge the seniors. Many mind game apps do this well, as they present many different challenges in the form of a game. Indeed, many regular apps and games can promote cognitive skills too.
Why is Cognitive Decline so Important?
Cognitive decline can be influenced by many things, including depression, the Western diet, as well as stress. Cognitive deficits may also be temporary due to illness (COVID-19 is definitely one example of that), as well as life stressors, or certain medications.
Social isolation has also been studied and shown to increase the risk of dementia by 50%.
The best ways to reduce the risk of dementia or cognitive decline include physical activity, a balanced healthy diet, and avoiding smoking and alcohol.
Assuming you’re staying socially engaged, are physically active, and making healthy food choices, what about brain exercises for seniors? These may help even more – and there’s no shortage of them to choose from.
A Closer Look at Cognitive Health
Cognitive decline comes in many forms and in different degrees.
Some seniors simply find that their short term memory decreases, which means more occasions of forgetting to turn the element off or not knowing why they went to a given room.
Dementia is a more severe situation, which can influence a person’s ability to remember, along with their sense of time and place, and ability to interact with their environment. There are multiple types of dementia, with Alzheimer’s being the most common. Each type has its own set of symptoms and issues.
Interestingly, many studies show that higher levels of education are linked to a decreased risk of dementia. Some research also suggests that leisure activities may lower dementia risk.
This combination of features supports the idea of brain activities for seniors, as many mind games and activities have entertainment and educational functions.
Of course, many other factors influence the risk of dementia, including baseline cognition, mental health, genetics, level of physical activity, and age.
There’s also much to learn about how to prevent and treat dementia. Still, even now, some researchers are suggesting that mind games might help.
Besides, playing games and engaging in other activities can be enjoyable and helps to decrease boredom. Those effects alone are reason enough to get on board.
It’s also possible that the higher the frequency of engagement in a range of cognitive and physical activities, the greater the reduction of dementia risk.
Brain Games At Work
Some brain exercises seem to be effective. For example, The National Library of Medicine did a 2010 study on how adults ages 50 to 71 completed training sessions with the Nintendo Wii Big Brain Academy software.
The study involved 78 adults that fell within this age range, and the people surveyed were tasked to complete 20 one-hour training sessions with the software for one month. During the following month, the people surveyed were to complete 20 one-hour reading sessions with articles on 4 varying topics.
Eventually, the researchers had found that the respondents were able to improve on 6 out of the 10 ability tests provided from either playing the Wii’s Big Brain Academy software or reading, thus seeing improvements in cognitive and perceptual speed abilities.
However, not every game has been tested in this way.
Sometimes there isn’t much evidence at all for the effectiveness of a given game or activity.
Does that mean the senior shouldn’t try it? Not at all. Games and activities have many possible benefits and few risks, so experiment away. The best approach is often to include a wide variety of different activities, as you don’t know which ones will be most effective.
Games, Activities, and Brain Exercises for Seniors
The ideas below are all approaches that may help with cognition, are a good fit for seniors, and can be enjoyable. Many of them work well with multiple people too, making them an ideal activity for caregivers to do with seniors.
Jigsaw Puzzles
Not just for children, jigsaw puzzles have actually become quite popular over the past two years – in part due to restrictions placed on travel and social interaction due to COVID-19.
They’re not just good for passing the time or keeping busy on a rainy day, jigsaw puzzles are a great way to exercise your brain’s problem-solving skills.
Puzzles have other benefits too.
One is that they can be a social activity. Two or more people can easily work on the same puzzle. For example, you might work on a puzzle with an aging parent when you visit, giving you both the chance to talk and catch up. They can keep going with that same puzzle while you’re not there.
Another is that there are many levels of complexity. This makes it easy to choose the puzzle that suits the ability level of the senior.
Some seniors will enjoy difficult puzzles, like a 1,000-piece milky way puzzle or even a 3D puzzle of the Titanic. Others may need simpler puzzles, especially if they’re experiencing cognitive decline. For example, the company Relish offers a variety of dementia friendly products, including jigsaw puzzles. Free online puzzles, such as I’m A Puzzle put a fun spin to puzzles. You upload your own photos and turn them into a jigsaw puzzle to help you relive a memorable vacation or remember your favorite people.
Crossword Puzzles
You can find crossword puzzles in a newspaper, online or pick up a book full of them. There are even crossword puzzle apps these days.
They combine a number of thinking exercises, where you are solving the clue in a way that can only make sense in the context of the space allowed and bisecting words. Your brain will be working to draw from learned knowledge in your long-term memory to answer each clue.
Crossword puzzles have another advantage too – they’re familiar.
Many seniors have been doing crossword puzzles on and off for years, so they can simply pick one up and get started.
The benefits of crossword puzzles were made even more obvious in an April 2019 study from the European Journal of Neurology, where researchers studied older adults in their participation in various cognitive leisure activities.
The aim of the study was to see how such activities help to either improve cognitive function, or to not do much in slowing cognitive decline. The people surveyed were tasked to do the following activities for a certain amount of time:
- Reading
- Playing card or board games
- Making handmade crafts
- Completing crossword puzzles
- Writing
- Making art, AND
- Learning computer skills
In total 20 studies were conducted and 13 of them showed improvement in some cognitive domain in the people surveyed. Moreover, in 12 of said 13 studies, the intervention effects weren’t in a specific cognitive domain, but rather observed across multiple domains.
Sudoku
If word puzzles aren’t the right example of brain exercises for seniors, then perhaps Sudoku will work well. The concept is simple, using the numbers one through nine, fill in a series of nine-box puzzles. Some of the numbers will already be filled in, so all you have to do is complete the missing numbers.
Once again, there are plenty of places to find Sudoku, including apps, newspapers, and puzzle books. Some Sudoku books use large print, making them perfect for anyone whose eyesight is declining.
There is very limited research to back the benefits of Sudoku as an approach to preventing cognitive decline.
However, one study shows that older adults under age 65 who completed Sudoku or similar puzzles more often had significantly higher scores in their grammatical reasoning, spatial working memory, and episodic memory, areas of the memory that are associated with age-related cognitive decline.
Change Things Up
Exercising your brain doesn’t have to involve anything complicated. It can, in fact, be as simple as trying to complete everyday tasks with your non-dominant hand.
Typically brush your teeth with your right hand? Try completing this with your left! It will be challenging at first, but it’s actually building new brain connections that are strengthening your overall brain function. Such a simple thing can easily be done daily.
Chess
The game of chess requires that you strategize and plan your moves ahead of time, in order to defeat your opponent. You’ve got to not only be on the offensive, but also defend your pieces at the same time. It’s not surprising, then, that chess offers many benefits.
It’s also a great opportunity to interact socially, if you have other players you can engage with. Plus, there many high quality chess sets to get you started, ones that won’t break the bank.
Otherwise, there are plenty of online opportunities to play with other individuals or the computer.
Read A Great Book
There’s nothing better than a good book, and a good book is just the right thing to get your brain function working. Engaging your mind through reading helps promote brain stimulation, as your brain needs to process the words being read.
Reading is a powerful way to transport yourself to another place entirely, while giving your brain a great workout in the meanwhile.
Exercise
Exercising physically doesn’t mean you can’t work your mind out at the same time! There are workouts you can do to help sharpen and strengthen your brain, while keeping your physical self fit at the same time.
Tai chi, for example, has been shown to help bolster mental focus, while jogging can actually improve your memory. Not familiar with tai chi? Don’t worry, there are plenty of DVDs (like this one) to get you started or you can look for classes in your local area.
Exercising in water can also improve your cognitive strength. Water exercises may include vigorous swimming, backstroking, and so on. Such exercise can provide hydrotherapy for pain relief – pain is too often a pet peeve for older people.
Another form of exercise to try is dance. One of the most popular and effective forms of dance to take up is Zumba. Zumba combines dance with great vibes, which can be beneficial for cognitive stability.
Exergame is another option. Exergame is the place to be for gamified fitness. By combining fun with exercise, positive vibes can promote cognitive stability in individuals.
Get your exercises in all on your own or partner up or join a group for more social interaction.
Wrapping Up
Entering our golden years is a wonderful time, and the threat of cognitive decline should not overshadow the joy and happiness that should be experienced throughout these years.
Engaging in daily brain exercises for seniors can help to keep your brain function and cognitive abilities strong. And, it never hurts to start exercising both your body and mind early, for the best possible outcomes.
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Christina Lee is a project manager at Essay services and Write my research paper. She is a marketing and technology expert, and a contributing writer for OX Essays, among others.
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