Use It or Lose It: Games Help Keep the Brain Healthy

Hi, Carol.  As you know, this is one area in which I have much interest! 

I have a Nintendo DS and a multitude of games which I find to be at once entertaining and training!  My husband, bless his heart, bought me (among others) the Crossword game for Nintendo DS for Christmas.  I found it extremely easy to use and was able to start in on the crosswords within minutes.  The game itself has several levels and hundreds of crosswords.  It starts you out at the EASY level, lets you go to INTERMEDIATE if you want, shortly after.  If one gets "stuck", there are further clues available.  And, the best part, one can choose to have any incorrect letters come up in RED so that you know immediately that your answer is going to be wrong.  (I especially like that part as it saves me lots of time and frustration.)  I strongly recommend the Nintendo DS; I use its Brain Age and Brain Age2 games, also.  The other games I have are entertaining and do require me to learn and remember new rules, etc...some I have more difficulty with than others.  I favor the Nintendo DS over online games as it can be taken wherever I go and used whenever I have to wait in line or at a doctor's office. 

Keep up the good work!

Leah

Since when do we baby boomers have to have easy games to play?  I'm a baby boomer who plays soccer against her grandchildren, and, believe me, that's not easy!

Have a nice weekend.

Shari

www.care2tell.com

After experiencing Mom's stroke-induced brain damage in 2005, I truly believe it is important that each of us have diverse brain-stimulating hobbies now. If we someday have such brain damage, it will be easier for us re-learn the activities we previously enjoyed. While Mom enjoyed cross-word puzzles, she never related to any other games such as sudoku, word search, etc. If she had done those previously, I think she could have eventually re-learned them after her strokes, especially sudoku.

I tried Luminosity. Seemed interesting (and addictive) enough, but I hated having to go online for it. Gadget guru that I am, I did unnecessarily splurge and buy a Nintendo DS Lite for brain games, and hope to work my way to (ahem) "normal." 

I'm becoming intrigued by the high-end software programs that are designed to exercise the brain....

Hope all is well! Miss seeing your links on Trusera! :)  I need to catch up on your writings here.

I am the author of the online, subscription-based Brain Aerobics Weekly. (You can see a sample at www.brainaerobicsweekly.com) I began writing it because, like you, I often prefer a book to a computer game, and because I wanted to provide a fun-loving, downloadable, (i.e., printable) alternative to the flashier on-line games. I think they have a role and some are definitely addicting, but I think those that try to get older adults to respond more quickly are pursuing the wrong goal. We all know that older adults don't react as quickly as younger people -- which is why you don't see them on game shows with buzzers. But, so what? My personal theory is that they are slower because they have so much more information in their brains to sort through! And Gene Cohen's work has found that older brains are more integrated, meaning that they weigh the logical left brain answer with the creative right brain answer before responding, which sounds to me like a good thing to do. I think the key to keeping your brain active is to stay curious and to have fun. I try to provide impetus for both in my publication every week.