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[For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! Lively Mind Exercises
Activities like games and brain training exercises conducted in senior facilities—often called “mental workouts”—are said to help prevent dementia or slow its progression.
So this time, we’re introducing “mental workouts for seniors”!
Mental workouts not only provide a sense of accomplishment when a problem is solved and activate brain functions, but they also play an important role in creating opportunities for communication with other seniors.
They are also recommended as a way to relieve stress for seniors who may fall into repetitive daily routines.
By adjusting the difficulty level to suit each senior’s condition and adding creative touches to make the activities easier to engage with, you can further increase their sense of satisfaction.
Try incorporating them into your recreation time or daily routine.
[For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! Lively Mind Exercises (1–10)
10 educational quiz questions
Here’s an introduction to quizzes that are beneficial for seniors.
Quizzes can be enjoyed during conversations with older adults or in small pockets of free time.
Plus, the act of thinking provides stimulation to the brain and can help keep it active.
Quizzes based on things seniors know or are familiar with are likely to be even more engaging.
Learning fun trivia they didn’t know before through quizzes can also make the experience enjoyable for seniors.
And when the quizzes focus on things they already know, getting the right answer can give them a real sense of accomplishment.
small change calculation
Let me introduce a brain-training exercise that uses counting coins: the Coin Calculation game.
Coins will appear on the screen—memorize them within the time limit and calculate the total amount.
The double task of taking a quick look, memorizing, and then calculating greatly activates your brain.
Calculating and paying money are essential activities for living in society.
In fact, it has been reported that in the early stages of dementia, counting coins becomes difficult, leading people to rely more on bills.
If you’ve had fewer chances to shop in your daily life, please give this a try.
Showa Quiz
Showa Quiz is an effective way to stimulate the brains of older adults who lived through the Showa era.
By revisiting the quiz, they can reaffirm the events and trends of the years they experienced.
It enriches emotional reminiscence, strengthens memory, and creates opportunities for interaction with other visitors.
The feeling of nostalgia is said to bring various benefits to the brain, such as reducing stress, increasing happiness and helping maintain brain health, and fostering a more positive outlook toward one’s future self.
Rock-Paper-Scissors Brain Training
Rock-paper-scissors, a game we’ve been familiar with since childhood.
In some regions, people make “scissors” with the index finger and thumb, like a pistol shape.
Let’s try some brain training using rock-paper-scissors.
A classic is to do delayed rock-paper-scissors to the rhythm of “jan-ken, pon, pon,” and keep losing to the host on purpose.
It’s easy to think of the “winning move,” but the “losing move” doesn’t come to mind as quickly.
There’s still plenty of room for customization, like making one hand play a winning move while the other plays a losing move, or winning ten times in a row at high speed.
Even though the finger shapes differ, it seems many countries have games similar to rock-paper-scissors; imitating those and playing them could be good brain training as well.
Word-making game
Wordplay is fun because everyone gets to rack their brains and come up with ideas.
For example, how about a game where you make two-letter words using only the A-row and K-row sounds? If you write them up on a whiteboard, everyone can share different answers, and it’s interesting to see words you wouldn’t have thought of yourself.
There are surprisingly many, and the stream of words brings fresh discoveries.
You could also set a time limit and turn it into a game where the person who lists the most wins!
Arunashi quiz
It’s a game where you’re shown words divided into two groups—“has” and “doesn’t have”—and you have to figure out what they have in common.
The tricky part is that the shared feature can take many forms, such as something that appears when you add a word before or after, or a property hidden within the word itself.
The breadth of possible commonalities makes it challenging, but it also stimulates the brain by encouraging diverse approaches.
Since that same breadth can make it hard, let’s provide hints gradually to help guide the thinking process.
If you try reading the words out loud, you might notice something that brings you closer to the answer.
Dual-task exercises
Performing two actions at the same time is called a “dual task.” For example, cooking while watching TV or taking notes while talking on the phone.
When you perform two actions simultaneously, various areas of the brain become activated to organize the information needed for each action.
This time, we will introduce exercises that intentionally incorporate dual tasks by combining multiple movements.
By stimulating the brain, these exercises may help prevent cognitive decline.
They can be done either standing or sitting, making them a great option for recreational activities in senior care facilities.