Mental workouts – Prepare for your future. Written By Deborah Crowe

Have you have ever visited a Senior Centre usually in the early afternoon? If you have, you will see a group of seniors doing just what brain experts recommend, though most of them don't know it.

There could be three tables of seniors playing bingo, a twosome playing chess; and on another floor a group may be playing pinochle. In short, they're using their brains.

If you ask any of them what they are doing, they will respond with a comment similar to “well I am playing chess, etc.” The point is that one specific gentleman alluded to me one day “It's like Einstein's theory of relativity,” he says. “When you're doing something you don't like, time drags. When you're doing something you like, the time goes fast.” Well, most of his fellow players say they're having, but, like him, they add that the games make them feel mentally sharper.

Only Paul Hansen, a retired contractor, who was playing euchre, is looking further ahead. “I do believe it does ward off Alzheimer's” he says. “It helps you keep your mind active”.

Whether games by themselves directly stave off Alzheimer's is unclear, but a growing body of scientists are finding that people who engage in mentally stimulating activities are less likely to get the brain robbing disease or, at least, seem to develop its symptoms later.

And studies in animals have shown that, contrary to the old scientific theory, new cells can generate in the brain, and learning stimulates their growth. The adage “use it or lose it” may apply to our brain as well as your body, brain experts say.

With the aging baby boomer's terror of dementia, research has considerable interest in memory – both improving it now and saving it later. A flurry of “brain fitness” has crossed the software industry with many software applications to assist with this new type of “Neurobics”.

One particular web site http://mybraintrainer.com focuses on online tests that assist with speed and memory. This particular business owner, Bruce Friedman is in the midst of negotiating a national fitness company to have his utilized as part of new body, healthy mind program.

Advance Brain Technologies in Utah, produces a product called Brain Builder. The company is about to go online with a competing game. The president, Alex Doman, is anticipating 100,000 subscribers within the first two years. Brain Builder is effective in improving both “auditory and visual sequential processing”. It is used widely within school boards and government facilities.

Various studies have shown that individuals, who frequently read, go to the theater, play games (i.e. cards, checkers), watch television, dance, play an instrument had a protective effect, shown in one study. Frequent social interaction is definitely another plus.

However, Alzheimer's experts say its too early to conclude that any type of mental activity is better that another. One possibility is that dementia affects behaviors like game playing long before recognized symptoms appear.

Another theory is that education and other mentally stimulating activities cause the brain to build a richer network of neural pathways, creating a cognitive reserve. They may develop the same pathology in the brain as others with Alzheimer's, but they can function longer because their brains have better backup systems.

Scientists believe Alzheimer's in most patients results from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Some people were born with genes that virtually guarantee they will develop the disease. Everyone knows of brilliant professors or great writers who have gotten Alzheimer's. It's clear, then, that frequent and challenging use of the brain is no guarantee it will forever serve us well.

One study found that, with training, the elderly population improved several types of thinking skills – memory, reasoning, speed of processing – and the improvements stuck for at least two years. But the study also found that, unlike an aerobic exercise that benefits the whole body, exercising one part of the brain didn't seem the strengthen others. Learning to make quick decisions, for example, didn't improve memory, and vice versa.

Many people get a lot of mental stimulation at work, but do not plan for continuing it once they retire. All of a sudden an individual retires at age 65 or earlier and they haven't plan to continue their activities of mental stimulation. You often hear that someone retires and days later they have passed away – could it be related to such theory?

Try to pick a cognitive activity that you think is fun and stimulating and that will be the one to work for you.

Brain Builder is fun, interactive age appropriate for adults and children and like we all like to have – instant feedback on how we did.

Since 1995, Davwill Consulting has utilitized this product with the brain injury population (both adults and children). Individuals have been excited that their memory has improved and they stated, “It is fun to do”.

Sequential processing is the highway to many thinking processes that affect our clients in their daily lives from an acquired brain injury. If a leisurely, fun activity is incorporated into their rehabilitation schedule their motivation and initiation is not measurable as it is on their terms, which as always is the best progress and success to measure rehabilitation