Regularly taking part in brain-stimulating games can positively impact the health of your brain and cognitive abilities while also countering cognitive decline. There are hundreds of brain games available today, such as sudoku, mahjong, crosswords, and more, which can be easily downloaded to your phone! Not only can older adults benefit from them, but so can people of any age. Incorporating brain games into your daily routine can help improve your decision-making process, improve the speed of thought, and help keep your brain in shape and at its sharpest!
Discover the many reasons why seniors should indulge in playing these types of games:
1. Strengthen your memory – the aging mind is associated with loss of memory, and although that may in part be true, it may also be possible to slow down memory loss. This is why making your memory stronger should be an important aspect of your health goals, especially if you are an older adult. Once you start recognizing that you are having cognitive issues, stopping it in its tracks will be on the top of your “To do list”. Playing brain games can have a significant and positive impact on both short-term memory and long-term memory. As you age, the mind ages too, and the best way to slow that process down is to invest some time into brain games.
2. Improve reasoning and processing speed – you have probably noticed this with some older adults – when faced with a situation where they have to decide on something, they tend to take more time with coming up with a decision, answer, or solution. This is because as the brain ages the mind is more susceptible to cognitive decline, which will impair the brain’s decision-making process. One of the best ways to prevent this from happening is to challenge the brain daily. This is best done by including some brain games in your day-to-day activities. Over a longer period, you can notice that it won’t be so difficult to solve an issue or make a decision.
3. Reduces the risk of falling or tripping – somehow, it seems that there is a connection in seniors between the agility of the brain and their limitations in movement, and it even goes beyond that too! Older adults tend to fall more often, which is proven by some studies that were conducted after older adults received hospital treatment after a fall. The brain's health and agility are two imperative things to focus on to reduce the risk of falling which can lead to hospitalization.
4. Increases your social interaction – for older people, communicating with their peers can become an increasingly difficult task, due in part to mobility issues and isolation. It has been shown that loneliness can increase the rate and risk of cognitive decline in older adults. It has always been encouraged that older adults stimulate their minds through socialization since it is just as important as brain games in keeping the mind sharp. Not only can communicating with other people have some outstanding effects on your mental health, it can enhance cognitive function too!
These are just a few of the main reasons aging adults should take some time out of their day to complete a brain game or puzzle. As you can see, it can help to positively impact the function of the aging brain. Also, brain games have been shown to help slow the onset of dementia due to the essential creation of new neural pathways in the brain. Enjoy a brain game today, it is never too late to begin your cognitive health journey!
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