As your loved ones grow older, overall brain health can deteriorate due to a decline in cognitive abilities and memory. However, it’s never too late to help your loved ones stop the decline of their brain health by focusing on improving their brain function and cognitive health. Research has found that there are varying methods to maintain or even enhance brain capabilities at any age. Here are six easy brain exercises that can help your aging loved ones.
Crafts and Hobbies
The National Institute on Aging indicates that people who participate in hobbies and activities generally feel happier and healthier. Studies conducted have shown that older adults who engage in photography or quilting experienced significant improvements in memory and brain performance than those who only engaged in social activities or less cognitively demanding activities.
Puzzles
Puzzles offer an exceptional source of entertainment for older adults to engage alone or in a group. They help in helping train the mind’s cognition and keen attention to details by stimulating brain function and stretching their mental muscles. Your loved ones can not only exercise their fingers but simultaneously have fun and achieve a sense of achievement when completing a puzzle. There is a wide range of puzzles available, from crosswords, traditional jigsaw puzzles, memory games, to word searches. Each puzzle also has varying difficulty levels designed for people with different cognitive abilities: tailored puzzles suitable for those with vision impairment and easier puzzles for older adults with memory-related conditions like dementia.
If your loved one has Alzheimer’s or dementia, it could be time to consider community care as it can be extremely challenging to provide constant care as their condition deteriorates with time. Our memory care program at Discovery Commons South Biscayne serves to provide personalized care plans with comfort living for our residents, ensuring their wellness and quality of life by our professional and well-trained team members.
Sudoku
Sudoku is one of the most popular games played daily but for those who don’t know, it is a numbers game in which players have to fill every empty box. It focuses on numeric patterns and is can be played in several difficulty levels. Sudoku can help to improve memory and stimulate the mind when working on a puzzle using logical thinking and number skills. It allows players to improve concentration power as the puzzles often require a considerable amount of strategy and creativity during the process of solving.
Cards and Board Games
Many games can be played with a deck of cards. Old favorites like Pinochle, Cribbage, and Hearts and Solitaire provide the elderly with the opportunity to stimulate their brains in a fun and engaging way. Board games such as chess and checkers can also provide a similar outlet to exercise your loved one’s brain to improve and combat cognition changes attributed to aging.
Computer and Mobile Applications
Presently, there is a plethora of cognitive applications available for download on mobile, tablet, and computer devices. Seek those that allow the adjustment of difficulty, complexity, or choice to focus on a specific cognitive capability such as memory, reasoning, language, and attention.
