|  | Family Health | Seniors Health

Mental Activities for Elderly People

Over time, as the human brain takes on countless pieces of information to develop memories and lifetime skills, the organ showcases the ability to continuously learn, adapt, rewire itself and grow new neurons to accommodate new stimuli. Just as muscles atrophy and decay due to lack of use, humans can experience dementia, losses in motor skills and memory as the brain ages and mental fitness ignored. By regularly engaging in 10 to 20 minute mental workouts, you can greatly improve your brain's processing speed and cognitive functions over time. Those in their golden years should consider these mental activities to increase their brain power and protect themselves against cognitive decline.

  1. Leisure Activities

    • Leisure activities such as reading or Sudoku games are great ways to incorporate mentally engaging exercises for the elderly into their everyday lives. Mentally challenging leisure activities help elderly men and women maintain their mental clarity and lower their risk of dementia. One 2003 study, led by Dr. Joe Verghese of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, found that regularly participating in leisure activities such as dancing and playing board games or a musical instrument resulted in a lower risk of dementia. Verghese said of the study's results that cognitive activity may work against the onset of dementia by increasing a person's "cognitive reserve," strengthen the connections between brain cells or encourage new networks within the brain.

    Meditation and Focus

    • Practicing meditation and exercises that help you focus are effective mental activities that will help you retain the ability to reign in your wandering thoughts well into old age. Through the use of daily breathing exercises, meditation techniques and recognition of distracting thoughts early on, the elderly can train their minds to focus on single thoughts, retrace their steps to original thoughts and concentrate on the task at hand.

    Opposite Hands

    • One tried-and-true method for improving the mental dexterity of the elderly is trying your hand at being ambidextrous. By simply using your "weaker" hand, the hand that you don't typically write with, to do everyday tasks like brushing your teeth, buttoning buttons or working a computer mouse, your brain looks at the situation in a totally different way and learns a new skill. This mental exercise creates new neural connections while strengthening old ones, and it's a great mental exercise for the elderly because it's something they can do every day, on their own and wherever they are.

Seniors Health - Related Articles