Cognicise you can do while seated. Simple dementia prevention.
Do you know about Cognicise?
It’s an exercise that combines mental tasks with physical movements to effectively train both the brain and the body.
Because it’s effective for preventing dementia, many nursing homes and day service centers have adopted it.
This time, we’ll introduce Cognicise exercises you can do while seated.
They range from simple to difficult, including ones done to a rhythm and more complex versions that use numbers.
Enjoyment is key to keeping it up!
Be sure to find activities that suit the participants and give them a try!
- [For Seniors] Introducing Cognicise for Dementia Prevention
- [For Seniors] Recommended Easy Strength Training
- For seniors: Enjoyable exercises done while seated, accessible for wheelchair users.
- [For Seniors] Find daily brain training. Today’s recommended brain workout.
- [For Seniors] Enjoy the Cold Winter! Seated Activities You Can Do
- For seniors: Recommended for day services. Hands-on activities that help prevent dementia.
- Simple games for preventing and improving dementia
- [Today's Recommendation] Gentle Health Exercises for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Recommended Even for People with Dementia! Simple Recreational Activities
- [Dementia Prevention] Introducing Easy Knitting!
- Recommended Indoor Exercises for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Brain Training Recommended for Dementia Prevention
- [For Seniors] Core Training: Recommended Simple Rehabilitation
Cognicise exercises you can do while seated. Simple dementia prevention. (1–10)
Cognicise with after-the-fact rock-paper-scissors
This is a cognition exercise that uses the familiar game of rock-paper-scissors.
It works for small groups or larger ones, and you can even do it while seated, so feel free to join in.
The method is simple: choose one person to be the caller.
All other participants do a marching-in-place movement.
The caller shows rock, paper, or scissors, and the participants must keep marching while deliberately losing to the caller’s hand.
It might sound easy, but it’s surprisingly challenging.
It’s a recommended activity that lets you enjoy two different kinds of stimulation—thinking and moving—at the same time.
Give it a try!
Cognicise with your fingertips
This is a Cognicise exercise that uses only movements from your fingertips to your shoulders.
Because it’s a simple combination of movements, anyone can join in and have fun.
The method is easy: place one hand in a fist against your chest, and extend the other hand forward with the palm open.
You might already know the part where you switch the fist and the open hand.
Next, keep one hand as a fist on your chest, but only change the extended hand through rock, scissors, and paper—it surprisingly feels tricky.
For another variation, make the extended hand open (paper), and change the hand held back against your chest through rock, scissors, and paper.
Doing thinking and movement at the same time activates your brain, so give it a try!
Calendar Cognisize
Calendar Cognisize is an exercise that gets you moving using a calendar from January to December, divided into short months and long months.
It’s a brain-training workout you can enjoy while seated.
Swing your arms and march your feet as you count from 1 to 12 in order.
When you say a short month out loud, clap your hands.
It can be quite tricky until you get used to it, so write the calendar on a whiteboard and mark which months are short and which are long as you practice.
Once you’re comfortable, try adding movements like straightening your knees, or make your own variations!
Cognicise you can do while seated. Simple dementia prevention. (11–20)
Cognicise to match the day of the week
This is a cognicize exercise where you move your body while saying the days of the week from Monday to Sunday.
It’s done sitting in a chair, so it’s easy for anyone to join.
First, as the basic movement, swing your arms and march your feet while saying Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and on Wednesday and Sunday lift your knees.
Once you get used to it, keep the same movements but clap your hands on Wednesday and Sunday.
For those who are comfortable with that, add variations such as clapping in front of your chest on Wednesday and over your head on Sunday—this delivers a fresh stimulus to the brain.
You can also enjoy it in different ways by increasing the tempo or changing the duration.
Give it a try!
Cognicise to the rhythm of A-KA-SA-TA-NA-NI
This is an easy, seated Cognicise exercise.
As a basic movement, swing your arms and march in place as if you were walking, then add additional movements.
First, while swinging your arms and marching, move your feet outward, outward, inward, inward.
Once you’re used to it, in addition to coordinating your arms and legs, try saying the vowels A, I, U, E, O in rhythm, followed by the k‑s‑t‑n series (ka, sa, ta, na sequence).
If you’re confident, add a clap when you say the last syllable to further stimulate your brain.
Once you get the hang of it, you can also do it standing—give it a try!
Cognicise to the tune of ‘The Rabbit and the Turtle’
This is a cognicise (a cognitive exercise) you can do simply by adding easy movements while singing a familiar children’s song.
You can do it standing or sitting, so it’s easy for anyone.
What to do is simple: while alternately extending one hand open (palm out) and pulling the other hand, made into a fist, to your chest, sing the children’s song “Usagi to Kame” (The Hare and the Tortoise).
Once you get used to it, it’s also good to add marching in place.
Some may think, “Is that all?” but to move your body, keep rhythm, recall the lyrics, and speak out loud, your brain has to send commands to many different parts of the body to perform these separate actions.
It’s said that this serves as good stimulation and helps activate the brain.
Please give it a try.
Cognicise using paper cups
We’d like to introduce a cognicise activity using a paper cup and a beanbag.
While seated, hold the beanbag in your right hand and the paper cup in your left.
Toss the beanbag into the air with your left hand and use the paper cup in your right hand to catch it.
Once you get used to it, switch which hand holds which item.
Next, try this sequence at a 1-2-3 tempo: throw the beanbag, catch it with the paper cup, then lift both feet and lower them.
You can keep things fresh by changing the flow—for example, switch the foot lift to marching in place, or start from marching and then throw and catch the beanbag.
It’s especially lively with a large group, so give it a try!