Games for Your Gray Matter: How Mental Stimulation Helps Prevent Dementia

There’s a growing body of scientific evidence showing that exercise, social engagement, and mentally stimulating activities can significantly reduce risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Staying mentally active doesn’t just mean reading a book a week or taking a crash course in Greek philosophy. There are many ways seniors can keep the brain limber by playing games that are fun and engaging. In fact, many of these mental activities can be accessed online for free on computers, smartphones, and tablets as often as you like.

Video Games

In addition to developing healthy habits (eating a healthy diet, putting together a comfortable exercise routine, etc.), tech-savvy seniors can derive substantial benefit from games that have been found to sharpen memory and bolster cognitive functioning. Seniors who play the game NeuroRacer showed scores similar to those achieved by players in their 20s who had no previous experience with the game. In fact, the game’s positive effects stayed with senior players for up to six months and enhanced their ability to concentrate.

Another brain-training program, called BrainHQ, has proven similarly effective at staving off the effects of dementia. BrainHQ seeks to speed thinking processes by challenging seniors to distinguish between a series of changing objects appearing in the center of their vision as well as in their peripheral vision. A research study of more than 2,000 seniors revealed that the program’s speed-of-thought processing reduced the risk of dementia by approximately 30 percent compared to seniors with no such brain training. Seniors who completed 15 BrainHQ sessions showed a risk of dementia at just under 6 percent.

3D Gaming

The next time you feel like rolling your eyes when the kids or grandkids start gushing about the latest 3D video game, consider this: Researchers have found that playing 3D games could be a viable means of guarding against age-related dementia and memory loss. Studies have shown that 3D games stimulate the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in memory, and that playing for 30 minutes a day significantly boosts memory.

Games

A good game of cards keeps your mind sharp by using math skills to devise strategy, anticipate plays, and assess the statistical likelihood of a certain outcome. Playing bridge with a group of people engages your recall ability and utilizes various language centers in the brain in communicating with a partner. All in all, your mental faculties get a good workout, your brain is the better for it, and you’re less likely to suffer the effects of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Solitaire is fun and it’s a favorite of many people, but statistics show that you derive greater benefit from the experience by playing with others. Memory games also work against the effects of brain deterioration and dementia. Matching cards based on recall strengthens the hippocampus.

Word Games

Crossword puzzles, Sudoku, and word games are similarly beneficial for the brain; playing about 20 minutes a day can help reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Daily newspapers still run crossword puzzles, and there are many online options for testing your word recognition skills. Websites make available puzzles of varying difficulty so you’re not repeatedly frustrated.

More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, a debilitating affliction that robs one of memory and gradually undermines the ability to carry out activities of daily living. Playing games that engage your mental faculties on a regular basis can have a healthy preventive effect against the onset of severe mental decline in your senior years.

Lydia Chan
Alzheimer’s Caregiver | lydia@alzheimerscaregiver.net

Image courtesy of Pixabay