Brain Training – How Games Keep Your Mind Active as You Age
Collaborative Post
The irony of getting older is that if you don’t look after yourself, you almost regress to a childlike state. It’s the natural way of life, yet there are many things you can do to stop this from happening – especially from a mental standpoint.
Keeping your mind active is crucial as you age. It can help prevent the early onset of conditions and diseases like dementia such as Alzheimer’s while helping you remain more cognitively present. In other words, you’re more there. You understand what’s going on in your life, you can communicate with others and you don’t need constant assistance. It’s invigorating to reach your older years and retain this much independence, but how can you keep your mind as active and healthy as possible?
In another phenomenal stroke of irony, the best way to maintain and develop an active mind is by playing games. Yep, the exact thing you probably grilled your kids about while they were growing up now becomes an important part of your life. You have full permission to play as many games as possible – and we’ll explain how they help your brain.
Promoting Problem-Solving Abilities
Leading geriatric medical specialists agree that targeting your problem-solving abilities is the key to boosting brain function as you age. One expert notes that engaging in problem-solving games and activities is the best way to keep the wheels spinning. It’s up there with physical activity as one of the leading ways to achieve a healthy brain in your senior years.
Strategy games are the best for this as they directly force you to solve problems. Options like solitaire or sudoku are excellent here for a couple of reasons. They’re easy to play on your own; you can find many free variations, and they gradually get harder as you improve. So, you’re constantly challenging your brain to think of new strategies or solve the puzzles to complete each game.
Improving Memory Retention Skills
Experts predict that almost 40% of us will experience memory loss after we turn 65 years old. That’s a daunting thought. Losing your memory is one of the hardest parts of getting older. It can hit you in two ways (or both at once):
- Your short-term memory goes, so you forget things that happened recently
- Your long-term memory goes, so you forget key parts of your life
Short-term memory struggles are the most debilitating for daily life as you end up with brain fog all the time. You could go to the shops and stand there wondering what you came for. It’s horrible, and you slowly see yourself asking for more help and relying on others for everything.
Long-term memory loss is worse from a more emotional standpoint. Nobody wants to forget big moments in their lives – particularly memories that revolve around family. This is bound to happen as you age, but games hold the key to delaying this while also preventing short-term memory loss.
How? Because a lot of games stimulate the areas of your brain responsible for memory retention. They force you to remember things, and this trains your brain to get good at remembering. Card games are great at this again; simple games like pairs revolve around remembering where different cards are, so it’s like putting your brain through a memory-training routine.
There was even a study showing that digital puzzle games can improve memory in older adults. It looked at people aged 60 and over who played online puzzle games and found they had the same memory abilities as adults in their 20s. So, maybe it’s time to start searching for digital puzzle games in your spare time!
Enhancing Focus and Concentration
Your abilities to focus and concentrate are closely linked to memory retention. If you can remain focused on certain tasks, you’re less likely to forget what you’re doing. Concentration waivers as you age, which often leads to the brain fog we spoke about earlier. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve got bad memory loss; you just might lack the ability to concentrate on tasks, and it leaves you momentarily stunned.
Sadly, losing your ability to focus means you’re at a greater risk of accidents. A lapse of concentration can cause accidents while driving or when you’re showering. If these incidents start racking up, you’ll be forced to become less independent as your driving licence gets taken away or you need someone to help you wash.
Games keep your mind active and trigger parts of your brain to enhance focus and concentration. Especially when the game specifically depends on your ability to concentrate, like mahjong. It’s a game you can play at home, with some cards and a table, or online. You’re forced to concentrate and focus or you won’t win – and this starts training your brain to be more active. You’ll see a boost in concentration throughout your daily life, meaning bye-bye brain fog.
Encouraging Social Interactions
An underrated benefit of games is what they do for your social life. We’ve mentioned a handful of games already, but most of them are single-player options. Having a few of these in your back pocket is good as it means you can stay occupied while alone. However, you should also consider multiplayer games that encourage you to play with other people.
A few that spring to mind are:
- Chess
- Checkers
- Poker
- Clubs
- Scrabble
- Boggle
- Monopoly
Basically, you can list any board game here, and a lot of card games!
The point is that games bring people together. They give you a chance to meet with friends or sit down with your family and have some fun. This does wonders for your mental health and can combat common issues like anxiety or depression in older people. At the same time, playing games in a social setting boosts your mental capacity. It encourages cognitive development as you’re thinking more actively while playing. You have to multitask by focusing on the game and talking to the other players.
It does wonders for your mind! You can also look for new playing partners or friends through these games. There might be a local rummy club in your community that gets together every week – join this, and you’ve got an exciting new thing to add to your social calendar.
Developing Tech Skills
Getting old is scary because technology never stops advancing. It’s like the two of you go in different directions; you’re on the way down, while technology is on the way up!
Simple daily tasks get harder because there’s a tech barrier in front of everything. Even something as simple as going to the shops is difficult with self-checkouts these days. That’s where games become a very powerful tool – especially if you play a few video games.
You don’t have to play any crazy titles, but simply playing games on your computer or a smartphone helps you develop essential tech skills. You become less afraid of technology and learn to embrace it. Soon, you’ll be wowing the grandkids with how much you know about the latest tech, and everything in life feels a lot easier.
Play More Games and Improve Your Mental Capacity
That headline is a great summary of this post. Playing games improves your mental capacity and will keep your mind active as you get older. You can play all sorts of games to experience boosts in problem-solving, memory retention, focus, concentration, multitasking, strategic thinking and so much more.
Don’t assume there’s nothing you can do to slow down your mental decline. Games represent one of the best ways to continuously train your brain so it remains bulletproof in old age.
