Brain Workouts

I'm trying them

Slowing down the progression of dementia is still the whole enchilada. The antiamyloid drugs are promising, but not anywhere close to cure yet. And because there are so many factors that combine to increase the chance of dementia, looking at all things that can help prevent or slow down dementia is a constant priority.

More time being who you are. More time enjoying family. More time being independent. More joyful moments.

I have tried brain games before and like my experience with some video games, they seem to become harder or “level up” when you succeed at “winning” the game.

Can brain games slow down cognitive loss? The studies are inconsistent on how much doing brain games translates into improvement in activities of daily living in dementia patients. It appears that brain training might at least help in people with mild cognitive impairment (link here).

So bear with me for a moment while I change gears.

I messed up my arm/shoulder and got sent to physical therapy. I went 2 to 3 times a week while the therapist taught me exercises andhad me lifting weights. Let’s be honest, I really did not want to do it. But she assured me it would decrease the pain I was having. And it did! Who knew?

I have since stumbled over a brain training app that focuses on three areas of “working memory.” This involves different parts of the brain that involve reasoning, memory and focus. It immediately felt like the same idea as physical therapy on the body—a workout. I was leary because of all the times I had gotten frustrated with other game-type apps.

I decided to do a seven day free trial of this new app (link here) and discovered the exercises give you an option to stay at a lower level or proceed to a higher level. This allowed me to get more “practice” at the lower level, similar to the way in physical therapy you may stay with the same exercise but increase the reps you do to maintain your strength.

That made sense to me. I am also trying to do the brain training exercises first thing in the morning when I seem to be at my best (after coffee of course).

I will add this to the other things I am trying to do that are known to be good for brain health—eat healthy, exericise, get good sleep.