Senior Brain Health: Tips & Tools to Exercise the Brain

Seniors can have improved cognition and reduced risk for developing dementia if they have fit brains.  This has been proven through various neuroscience research studies. Keeping your brain sharp and helping your seniors keep their minds active will make aging successful.

“Brain fitness refers to a general state of healthy, optimized brain function, or a more specific brain-based ability to process certain, specific information, enable certain motor actions, or support certain cognitive abilities” states Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Direc­tor of the Berenson-Allen Cen­ter for Non-Invasive Brain Stim­u­la­tion at Har­vard Med­ical School.

Fun Activities That Keep Your Brain Sharp And Stimulate Your Brain’s Frontal Lobe “Thinking Brain”

• Jigsaw puzzles of 500 or more pieces
• Sudoku puzzles
• Crossword puzzles
• Word search puzzles
• Playing board games and chess
• Reading newspapers, books, magazine (e-readers add flexibility & convenience)
  • Amazon Kindle
  • Barnes & Noble Nook
• Having a conversation
• Watching a period movie such as Hamlet or MacBeth
• Participating in physical exercise
• Painting
• Practicing math problems
• Eating healthy foods and staying hydrated
• Staying positive and managing stress
• Bird watching
• Learning something new- – a foreign language or musical instrument
• Build something such as a model plane or birdhouse
• Getting a good night’s sleep
• Learning a new word every day and using it

Products that may help to improve brain fitness (and may even be fun!):

• Dakim Brain Fitness
• Action video games, such as
  • Wii
  • Xbox 360
• Life-long learning, online learning
• Brain training software such as
  • Posit Science Brain Fitness
  • Brain Fitness from Happy Neuron
• Brain Health library
• PBS DVD Brain Fitness with Peter Coyote
• Numerous low or no-cost online games to stimulate brain fitness

Select whichever tools you think will work best for your senior and give them a try.

The secret to brain health is REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT!   So keep at it every day to achieve improvement!