By Carol Smith
Fear of dementia or Alzheimer’s is one of the primary concerns for aging baby boomers. While there is no clear way of preventing memory degeneration, researchers have concluded there are things you can do to keep you brain active. Memory games for seniors is one way to prevent dementia.
Playing games can be an important way of keeping your brain active. Experts often mention activities such as crossword puzzles or Sudoku as being ways to keep the brain stimulated. For many, there is a quest for memory improvement games. It may not be as complicated as looking for specific adult memory games.
Playing the card game Bridge, for example, may be an excellent memory game for seniors. I’m not sure if baby boomers ever learned how to play Bridge in large numbers. My parents’ generation played bridge. As a result, I learned to play as a child. My husband and I played a bit when we lived in a small town with long cold winters, but we’re pretty rusty.
When my mother arrived at her new retirement community, she was invited to play bridge. She hadn’t played bridge with others for at least twenty years. Her dementia was bad enough that she would continually repeat herself in a short five-minute conversation. I was shocked when she came in second place of the eight people playing.
If you don’t play bridge, you may not know that it requires a tremendous amount of short-term memory. After the cards are randomly dealt to the four players, each person bids how many ‘tricks’ they believe they can take, based on a specialized language. Each player must remember what the other people in the group said and what it meant. Once the communication is complete and one team has the bid, then the person playing the hand out must remember what cards were played and by who. Bridge may not be an example of games that improve memory. It certainly uses it and researchers attest to the importance of using memory to retain it.
Other card games like poker, cribbage, rummy, hearts, and pinochle are great memory games for seniors. It’s easy to turn on the television in retirement. Instead of passively watching the tube, gather friends and family around for a friendly game of cards. In addition to being fun, it may also improve your memory.