According to this ACTIVE study:

“This large trial found that community-dwelling seniors who received cognitive training had less of a decline in certain thinking skills than their peers who did not have training. The study addresses a very important hypothesis — that interventions can be designed to maintain cognitive function,” says NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. “The challenge now is to further examine these interventions and others to see how they can be employed in real-world settings.”

With findings like these, exercising our brains becomes very important. While brain exercises don’t stop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, the study does show that they slow the progress of the diseases. So, how do we exercise our brains?

• Do logic, crossword and Sudoku puzzles - Just be sure you solve increasingly difficult puzzles as the years pass so you continue to challenge your brain.
• Play chess or checkers.
• Start a new hobby - exploring new hobbies often means learning new terminology, performing new tasks, etc.
• Send the kids (or grandkids) outside and take over the video game controllers for awhile. Simple games like Duck Hunt or Super Mario Brothers make me work on my reflexes and involve a bit of simple puzzle solving.
• Memorize your grocery list, a poem or a Bible verse. Not having success? Take a class on memory skills and put those skills to use.
• Hang out with kids. Sometimes, I can “feel the burn” from stretching my brain to include all those new ideas and ways of looking at things they come up with in a day.

Do you have any ideas for exercising our brains? Please post your tips!

Posted by on 04.22.2007 • Uncategorized