According to Neilsberg, 14% of Greensboro’s population is over the age of 65, illustrating the attractiveness of this city to retirees. It’s no surprise, given the plentiful outdoor spaces that allow you to embrace an active senior lifestyle.
But staying active in your senior years requires more than a fitness routine. You must also look after your brain. Read on for some ideas of brain exercises for seniors that can help sharpen your cognitive skills.
Word Puzzles for Senior Mental Stimulation
Word puzzles and games for seniors, like crosswords, are a timeless way to spend a quiet, relaxing afternoon. Plus, they are excellent for exercising the brain, and they provide a sense of achievement if you can successfully complete them.
Puzzles improve memory, and word puzzles are fantastic for boosting vocabulary, especially if you find yourself regularly forgetting words for everyday objects. At TerraBella Greensboro, residents can enjoy some quiet puzzle time in our indoor spaces or sit in the sunshine on a warm summer’s morning.
Brain Health Tips for Aging Adults: Try Trivia Games
If you want a more lively activity to boost memory, try a quiz night in your senior living community. Trivia is the ideal opportunity to test your brain cells’ ability to recall information, and it also helps you sharpen cognitive speed.
Most importantly, quiz nights are a fun social event, so you’ll enjoy lots of conversation and socializing, both of which are equally important for brain health. Trivia events are most fun when themed, so suggest some topics to your event organizers for your upcoming quiz night.
Brain Training Apps
Modern phones are an excellent source of brain training tools if you know where to look. Head to the app store to search for the latest memory support games, which can be used daily to test and strengthen your cognitive skills. Some of the best apps include:
- Elevate
- Wordle
- Lumosity
- Impulse
- Peak
These games offer fun problem-solving activities as well as more traditional tests, like solving anagrams.
Life Memory Circles
A life memory circle is a storytelling group activity. It combines memory work with social connections, so it’s excellent for overall well-being.
You begin by sharing a personal experience, reflecting on special moments from the past, like travel anecdotes or childhood stories. Each resident takes a turn, which means it can also help strengthen listening and focus skills, essential aspects of brain health.
These activities can help senior living residents relax and bond with each other, making them an effective icebreaker, too.
Art Recognition Activities
If you are creative or have a passion for art, this activity is an excellent one to try because it can help boost brain power. The idea behind this is to work on brain challenges like pattern recognition.
You join a group art session and choose a relaxing activity where you can create patterned artwork like coloring, painting, or mosaics. The calming nature of this activity means it’s also great for boosting mood, and art can also help strengthen your fine motor skills.
Music-Based Cognitive Activities for the Elderly
Listening to music can be a powerful way to unlock old memories, so this is the perfect nostalgic activity that can help lift seniors’ spirits. It’s particularly helpful for those with a memory loss diagnosis like dementia.
There is no strict structure to this activity, and you can be as creative as you want. You could host a themed afternoon listening to old favorite songs, or have a group sing-along. You could even invite a local musician to perform live.
Visit a Local Attraction
If you are a resident in our TerraBella Greensboro community, you can head outdoors for a brain boost in nature. Try Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden for a calming family day out. You could try a game like I Spy, or sit and soak up the views.
If you are feeling energetic, try a mindful walk, looking up and observing things around you. Nature activities can help improve focus by getting us to remain in the present, so they are an excellent way to keep the brain healthy.
An Afternoon of Fun Board Games
Board games can be quite addictive, and they’re also an excellent conversation starter. Sign up for activities in our senior living community that will give you the chance to interact with other residents and challenge them at a game of chess or Uno.
These games help your brain think strategically and can improve concentration. Plus, you get a chance to bond with others and form friendships.
Poetry or Book Clubs
If you love the literary world, join a group of like-minded people to share extracts of your favorite poems or books. You can read these out loud or talk through some of your thoughts or feelings about the passage, which helps critical thinking and communication skills.
Poetry and book clubs are also great lifelong learning activities, and will encourage you to keep up your pastime of reading books, which in itself is an excellent way to keep your brain active.
Cookery Classes
One of the most fun ways to spend an afternoon is to get in a kitchen with others and learn a new cooking technique.
You could discover the art of baking the perfect cake or learn how to make sushi like a pro. These skills demand a combination of cognitive work and dexterity, so they are excellent for the brain and for your fine motor skills.
Simple Brain Exercises for Seniors You Can Try Today
When drawing up your health and fitness goals, don’t forget about the most important part of your well-being: your brain. A healthy brain can help fight cognitive decline in old age, so make these brain exercises for seniors part of your daily routine.
Being in the right environment makes it easy to look after your brain. At TerraBella Greensboro, we have everything you need to look after your mind and body, including regularly scheduled wellness classes, personalized care programs, and calming outdoor spaces. Find out more by booking a tour today.
