Did you know that certain “mental” exercises could go a long way toward keeping your thinking skills sharp as you age? It’s true!
According to a recent study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, cognitive training can offset some of the expected decline in older adults’ thinking skills. The study also concluded that the benefits of short-term cognitive training could last for as long as five years!
Performing these mental exercises can help you maintain the cognitive abilities you need in order to do everyday tasks such as shopping, making meals, and handling your finances.
The study, initiated by The Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly, or ACTIVE, involved 2,802 adults aged 65 and older who were living independently and had normal cognitive functioning. Participants were divided into four groups and given reasoning, memory, speed of processing, and no cognitive training at all, respectively.
The researchers found that 87% of the speed-training group, 74% of the reasoning group, and 26% of the memory group showed improvement in the skills taught. Tests given at the end of the training period showed that those who participated in the cognitive exercises had less of a decline in certain thinking skills than their peers who did not participate in any exercises.
”The improvements seen after the training roughly counteract the degree of decline in cognitive performance that we would expect to see over a seven- to 14-year period among older people without dementia,” said Dr. Sherry L. Willis, of Pennsylvania State University, one of the co- authors of the report.
Since cognitive decline can cause you a loss of ability to perform such everyday activities as driving or following instructions on a medicine bottle, these findings are good news indeed. If mental decline can be delayed, then those of us who are aging can maintain greater independence for longer.
So what mental exercises can you perform? Here are 10 suggestions from Gene D. Cohen’s book The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain:
– Play games and do puzzles — Organize a dinner and discuss a book or film with your guests — Travel to a new place — Enroll in an educational course — Browse the hobby section at a bookstore — Write to your friends and family — Consider taking on part-time work — Volunteer — Start a journal — Write a memoir
All of these activities will help you to exercise your brain, as well as afford you some enjoyment as an added bonus. So, go ahead and give them a try — you might even discover some skills and talents you never knew you had.
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