My worst fear as I age is that I will lose my mental agility. Yes, I know my body will slow down (and already is), but I truly think the most frightening part would be losing my brain power. Recent studies suggested a link between brain fitness games, puzzles as well as brain fitness software programs and brain health. I am pretty active and was happy to hear that physical fitness also helps keep your brain healthy. What have you found helps keep you sharp as you age? I would love for more suggestions on games or programs to check out!
Ella, www.marblesthebrainstore.com
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Sounds very interesting.
My Grandma use to openly worry about this same thing. She had always been a smart women and could not bear the thought of dementia. It never happened , she played a lot of bridge, loved bored games, kept track of the football scores, even horse racing. She didn’t bet on anything, just kept track. the day she passed away, she had just played out her bridge hand, and felt she wanted to lay down for a bit, and she died. She was 93, she also won that last game.
Your Grandma sounds like a wonderful lady…=]
Thank you for sharing Dillin. What an awesome and uplifting story!!
I usually don’t like board games, but I’m going to start playing them if it helps. Thanks for sharing that. My Grandmother asked how my then 2 children were by their names on her death bed. She had over 35 grandchildren and around a dozen great grandchildren. She knew phone numbers for all the her kids. No speed dialing for her. The brain needs excercise like any other part or our bodies.
I have to laugh at myself at times, my favorite saying is “we can justify anything”. I belong to POGO, a game site with every game you can think of. It is free but you can also be a member and have other games to play then the free ones. It isn’t much a year but I always justify it by saying it is keeping my brain active and having some fun. It is a wonderful site for people also, they can communicate, meet new friends or old ones and it is your choice to join in or not. But I like to think I am keeping my brain alive by playing games. We can justify anything you know. lol
this is why I play word games on facebook. pathwords, wordtwist, also Sudoku. I also play chess online but in particular love playing the Chess Tactics on chess.com. I can see and measure on my chess tactics some days I’m just not all here. other days I know and feel playing chess tactics that I bright and doing well.
there’s also a web site called http://www.positscience.com/ that is just for this purpose. I play their free games but have never actually paid.
My friend down the hall from me is slowly disappearing into dementia. She looks fabulous, always has. She lives on the same floor in my apartment building, about 10 doors away, and got lost going from my place to hers. So I always make a point of “walking her way” so I can walk her home. It’s distressing.
Games, puzzles, etc. help, but frankly, it’s all in the ‘genes’. One of our friends, 69 and very smart, is suffering from dementia.
It’s true, my ex-mother-in-law, was brilliant.( Cambridge doctrine in mathematics). She has been heading toward dementia for 20 years. At 87, she is still alive, but she is completely gone. So sad.
I don’t think it is all due to genes, although there are always instances that are unfortunate and scary, like your friends and family who have slowly gone towards dementia after such an academic life. I read an article just today from the Wall Street Journal on battling Alzheimer’s through preventative medicine — i.e. brain games, math boggles, and the like: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703416204575145921517534304.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird#project%3DALZHEIMERSQUIZ100326
I have also read about the benefits of switching up what you do, so if you love crosswords and do them all the time, to really stay sharp you should try some math puzzles. Have you guys given that a try at all? I used to hate Sudoku and then once I made myself do it a bit I got to really enjoy it!
Yikes, sorry! Here is the link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703416204575145921517534304.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird#project%3DALZHEIMERSQUIZ100326
Interesting, it’s like cross training, makes sense. Also, rewarding to take on something different and challenging. I like the idea of staying interested in things as you get older.
My dad liked to write letters to his mother, as she got older, he’d get more creative. One time he wrote her a long letter on a whole roll of toilet paper! She got such a kick out of this, she had to come up with her own idea. They had a lot of fun, I think it kept everyone going.
If you have an iPod, try the app called Brain Challenge. It really is a workout, and you can see if you’re making progress.
I read and play cards and shoot pool. Just may take up some kind of puzzle or making more things, however my mother never did any extra exercise nor my grand mother,who at 87 died sharp as a tack…TRACK
My mother-in-law died at 97 with a ‘full head’.
i love playing scrabble
the name on the net
for free is
lexulous
i play several times a day
that is my break time
and keeping my mind sharp
i hope
Graduate school full-time plus a clinical internship at this age keeps my pistons firing. In ten years, it’s possible I’ll look back on this and wonder how I did it, but right now I love it. My MA program is preparing me for a new career as a pastoral counselor/therapist. I believe it’s never too late to start something new, and when you do you find the gift of “beginner’s mind,” which is rejuvenating by its very nature.
wow, i need a counselor/therapist before i really loose it……….
For those of you who want to stimulate your grey matter, I found this awesome site http://www.lumosity.com
It’s free for 7 days. You will be hooked! It is very challenging, and super stimulating…
I love to play mah jongg. It’s a Chinese tile game. Good thinking game. I also love to read & quilt & do puzzles.
My mom is 86 & is suffering from alzhemier & I’m so afraid it will effect me one day that I’ll try anything to keep my brain going strong.
I’ll have to try out thoes websites. Thanks for that infor.
I think intense stress plays a big role in our mental decline. I just lost my mother 3 months ago. She was only 75-this is young to me! She lived a very stressful life-not very happy! She had some form of dementia for several years-no real answer from mri and cat scans. I am trying to live with more joy and fun these days! I know if she could tell me this she would. I am recently separated from my husband of 37 years and lost my mother 3 months ago. Great stress but somehow I see a light at the end of tunnel and I laugh and enjoy life a little more every day. I, too, think we are dictated by our genes but we can certainly work with those genes and live our best life!