We all enjoy playing a good game, whether it is a card game, board game, or computer/video game. We enjoy the camaraderie, the challenge, and the thrill of winning. Game playing as one gets older, can offer benefits greater than these.
It can help to prevent Alzheimer’s.
Playing games on a regular basis has been shown to help reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by almost 50 percent. For those who already have this condition game-playing can aid in slowing down the disease’s progress.
How does game playing help prevent Alzheimer’s?
Playing games keeps the mind stimulated, which helps your memory function and cognitive functions such as language, attention span, and spatial ability to continue to perform optimally.
Games to play
So what games should seniors play to help maintain optimal mental health? There are a variety of board, card, and computer/video games that promote the needed mental stimulation. We will provide an outline of a few of these games below.
Concentration
Concentration is a classic card game that will help keep your memory sharp. It can be played individually, against another player, or the whole family can get in on the fun. Concentration as the name implies, requires paying close attention to be successful. The object of the game is to get the most matched pairs by turning over one card at a time and finding the match to it. Remembering the location of a previously turned over card challenges your memory. To make the game even more challenging the rules for matching could be changed to require that not only the numbers match, but the rank/color as well. Solitaire is another popular card game that is good for mental alertness. It is normally played individually and can be played with a deck of cards as well as online. There are different versions of this game, but the main objective is to rearrange dealt cards into order by suit and rank.
Scrabble
A popular board game that is not only fun to play, but also good for your mind, is Scrabble. This board game involves using random letter imprinted tiles to form words and accumulate points based on the length and complexity of the word. Playing Scrabble requires the use of memory, critical thinking, and strategizing. This is a family game that can be played as individuals or by forming teams of two or more. There is also a junior version for those for whom the classic version may be too challenging.
Trivial Pursuit
Trivial Pursuit is a great game for stimulating memory. It involves answering general knowledge-related and pop culture questions to accumulate points. There are various versions of Trivial Pursuit including: a baby boomer edition, the 80’s edition, the tv edition, star wars edition, and the junior edition. It also comes in other languages such as French, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Polish.
Go ahead and pull those old games out of the closet, gather the family together at the table, and play not only to win, but to preserve your and/or your loved one’s mental health.
© Copyright 2016 The Wright Stuff, Inc. Articles may only be redistributed in its unedited form. Written permission from The Wright Stuff, Inc. must be obtained to reprint or cite the information contained within this article.
