Brain Games; Preventing Dementia and Enhancing Brain Health
If you ask elder people, what are worried about, it’s not about the economy, it’s not even about the coronavirus. They are worried about dementia. It’s the number one thing they are worried about. Around 50 million people in the world suffer from dementia. by 2050, there will be 115 million people in the world will suffer from dementia. We spend one trillion dollars on dementia around the world. It can affect anybody, it can affect movie stars, politicians, and people on television. As doing physical exercise keeps your muscle and body strong, playing brain games can help to slow down the process of mental decay. these were made to stimulate challenge and strengthen the mind. Challenging yourself with a brain-teasing game and cognitive test for just two hours a week may help slow the degree of mental decay associated with the natural aging process. There is a lot of research about brain training games. In this article, we will describe the definitions of brain games and dementia, and how brain games can help to prevent dementia by enhancing brain health.
What is a brain game?
Brain game is an activity that involves and invigorates your thinking process, such as memory, problem-solving and critical thinking. Crossword puzzles, scrabble, chess, sudoku, and bridges are some samples of brain games. furthermore, there are many games available for download on your smart electronic devices. Brain training games are like going to the gym for exercise.
What is Dementia?
Dementia is an umbrella term. It’s a loss of thinking functions and memory that interferes with day-to-day life. There are over 100 causes. Alzheimer’s is the most common. problems with the circulation in the brain, small strokes, or big strokes are the other big generative causes. It’s not always treatable. Two-thirds of the world’s population with dementia live in the developing world.
How Brain Games Prevent Dementia:
Brain exercises slow down the process of brain decline. Almost a dozen studies have been done on brain training and the result showed that among 2800 adults who have been followed for almost 10 years, it has reduced their risk of dementia by 29 percent. Speed training games emphasize the speed of processing and they are effective among older adults with or without mild cognitive impairment. Brain training is not the only thing that you can do to promote your brain health.
Earlier this year, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine issued a white paper on what can be done to head off dementia. It said that based on the best scientific evidence, the three most promising ways to protect yourself against memory loss are:
- Brain training exercises
- Controlling blood pressure
- Physical exercises
There is a handful of good brain training programs. There is a big difference between science-backed brain training and so-called brain training games like Sudoku or crossword puzzles for words. These games are fun and wildly popular. but as any neurologist will tell you, when you play these games, you only get better at the particular game. They don’t improve memory or protect you from dementia. For that, you need brain training.
Research from the ‘University of Exeter & Kings College London’, collected data from 17000 participants, aged 50 and up, to explore the impact of specific brain workouts on cognitive ability. They discovered that people who solved word puzzles had comparatively stronger short-term memory, reasoning, and attention than those who did not. It also helps in the development of a cognitive stock for the future.
Long-term study shows that brain games can slow dementia and they retained measurable benefits for up to 10 years. It’s a first-of-its-kind study. This longest study ever done shows the promising long-term effects “brain games” have on slowing down Alzheimer’s and dementia. The study was released by the New England Research Institute. It says that science-backed brain training exercises are very effective for preventing dementia and they are also very important for increasing brain health.
To make the long story short, exercising your muscles help to keep your body healthy and strong. that’s why lots of people think that your brain works in the same pattern. Furthermore, not all games have the same effect. Some just occupy attention, while others focus on logical reasoning. Many studies have shown that brain games are great to improve cognitive intelligence thus ultimately slowing down the process of dementia.