Notes

Brain Teasers - How This May Help What are Brain Teasers?

They're exactly what they sound like -- games that tease the brain. Teasers enhance mental sharpness and help stimulate the brain. Brain cells, like any other cell in the body, can deteriorate and die if not used or stimulated on a daily basis. Challenge your brains to help maintain neural, brain cell development, and keep mental pathways open. Age is not a limiting factor. Contrary to popular belief, the brain cells don't die as we age, but reaction and processing time may slow. Regardless, an 85-year-old is fully capable of retaining the same knowledge and skills as a 25-year-old, but may need a little more time to reach the same conclusion.

Many seniors believe that once they hit a certain age, their mind will start failing. This isn't necessarily true. While certain forms of dementia do cause damage to brain cells and tissues that affect memory, reasoning, and cognition, there's no reason that seniors can't enjoy enhanced memory, active reasoning, and learn new things every day.

Brain cells continue to grow and develop, regardless of age. Learning new things and activities, or switching the way you do things in the morning (like brushing your teeth with the left hand instead of the right) will help develop neural cell regeneration, memory and create new neural pathways through the brain.

A number of games and activities can help seniors increase focus and concentration, memory skills, and reasoning. Encourage your parents to play brain games that include a wide range of activities including crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, math games, and maze games to help keep their brains functioning at optimal levels, and have fun and a few laughs while they're doing it.

Many people don't think about the brain as being an organ that requires regular exercise for optimal function. However, the brain is the only organ in the body that controls everything you do, from blinking to picking up a grandchild. Without the brain, the body cannot function emotionally or physically. Regular exercise through mental stimulation and activity will help enhance the five senses as well as fine and gross motor skills. Best of all, exercising the brain keeps it active, stimulated, and encourages the development and maintenance of brain cells.

Memory games can help you retain more information and process that information faster. Memory games help improve and lengthen attention spans, focus, and concentration. Many of us lose interest in games as we get busy with jobs, responsibilities, and other demands. As we age, we're content to do our job, but many of us don't have the opportunity to enjoy a lot of down time. Before you know it, we're entering (or in) our senior years, and starting to forget things.

Many seniors' exposure to math is relegated to balancing a checkbook, but when was the last time Mom or Dad actively engaged their reasoning skills in a mathematical word problem or puzzle? The brain grows through information. If you don't offer the brain new information or exposure to new things, it's going to stagnate. This doesn't mean that your brain will die, but it won't grow either.

Challenge your brain to learn new skills and your brain function will improve. For example, challenge your brain to learn new skills that involve all your senses, including your tactile senses. For example, take up coloring pages, watercolor or painting, knitting, or learn how to make fishhooks. This promotes corresponding activities between the brain and the physical movement of fingers or hands that are beneficial not only to your physical health, but for your mental and emotional health as well.

Games aren't just for kids. Actually, certain types of games, including memory games, are very effective for the elderly.
Maintaining brain function in seniors is just as important as developing the brainpower of toddlers and young children. The brain never stops learning or retaining new facts. Even the aging brain continues to produce and maintain healthy brain cells.

Seniors affected by stroke, dementia or other neurodegenerative damage to the brain can recover some function and cognitive abilities by retraining the brain. Actually, the brain is capable of bypassing damaged areas caused by stroke or traumatic brain injury. Like any other organ in the body, the brain needs exercise and optimal flow of nutrients, oxygen and blood to function. Diet can often take care of that, but games and activities that engage cognitive thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills are also extremely beneficial to the aging brain.

Games, puzzles, artwork, hobbies, and learning new tasks are excellent brain fitness activities that people of all ages and cognitive abilities can participate in and enjoy. Individuals recovering from strokes may find that brain exercises help them recuperate faster.

Unfortunately, many seniors believe they'll look foolish if they're caught playing games other than Bingo. Nevertheless, who says seniors can't have fun? It's time that seniors, their loved ones, family, friends and caregivers got over the stigma that playing games is foolish, embarrassing, or a waste of time. The brain is fully capable of remaining active until the moment we die. Don't let it go to waste. Remember the old saying, "use it or lose it." The brain exercises on a daily basis can help to maintain its optimal functioning capabilities.

Change your habits. Alter the way you do things on a daily basis. Even small changes force your brain into activity and help create new neural pathways of development. Find ways to incorporate games and brain exercises into your daily environment, and you'll more than likely be surprised by the results.

The brain is a continuous growing organ. Whether you're 17 or 71 years old, the brain is fully capable of creating and developing new brain cells and neural pathways even after the brain has been injured or damaged by disease or trauma.

Do you want to think faster, be smarter, or improve your cognitive abilities? Regardless of your age, mind exercises are an excellent way to get your brain in tiptop shape. Your brain is an organ of the body that needs to be exercised just like your muscles for optimal benefits, and exercises can be fun and effective at the same time.

Many seniors think that once they reach a certain age, games are for children. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The brain is a muscle and to stay sharp it needs regular exercise. In order to maintain mental acuity, sharpness, focus and interaction, you've got to stimulate the brain. Help your loved ones maintain their attention span and focus by encouraging such games for a fun way to do just that. Puzzles such as Jigsaw Puzzles, Crossword Puzzles, Sudoku and Mathematical Games focus attention on concentration and memory. Such stimulation to brain cells encourages neuron pathways to continually develop and grow despite cell damage caused by aging, medications, and medical conditions. The key idea behind mentally stimulating games is to slow down the degeneration of neurotransmitters and to increase growth of new brain cells. Contrary to popular opinion, brain cells do develop and grow during every stage of development; from birth until the day we die. Stimulating the brain to continually learn new skills, tasks and activities is one of the best ways to keep the mind active, healthy and strong, regardless of physical condition and capabilities. However, keep in mind that any game, whether solitary or group based, will provide benefits.

Teasers challenge the brain to think and reason through puzzle solving. Teasers not only offer problem-solving benefits, but also enhance the memory, increase attention span and speed up brain function.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, brain teasers, "...boost reasoning skills, memory and mental processing speed staved off mental decline in middle-aged and elderly people in the first definitive study to show that honing intellectual skills can bolster the mind in the same way that physical exercise protects and strengthens the body."

A person's brain is the most important organ in the body. Teasers encourage thought, thinking and reasoning. When it comes to seniors, mental stimulation and activity may help prevent depression and encourage social activity with others, developing interaction and communication with others, which in turn enhances listening, speaking and cognitive brain function.

Cater games and teasers to the current aptitude of your loved one. Start easy and spend perhaps 10 minutes a day engaged in brain teaser or other types of puzzle activities and gradually increase that time, depending on feedback by your loved one.

Take the time to daily encourage your loved one to participate in some type of teaser or brain activity involved with guessing games, riddles, math games, or games that encourage mental stimulation, reasoning, memory, and most of all, fun.

The brain is a complex organ that, like other muscles in the body, elderly parents need to keep stimulated by exercising the brain with games and crafts in order to enhance the growth and development of new nerve cells and neural function. Exercising the brain helps:

* Reduce loss of gray matter (the nuts and bolts of memory)
* Promotes neurogenesis (development of new brain cells)
* Improves attention spans and the ability to concentrate
* Strengthens brain synapses (communication pathways)
* Increases blood flow (more oxygen means healthier cells)