Brain Training For Seniors and Older Adults.
Brain Training can benefit seniors, the elderly and adults to improve cognitive abilities and maintain a sharper mind. The reality is (and scientifically proven) that the brain starts deteriorating with age, and the process of ageing begins from as early as mid-adulthood. Today, seniors are becoming aware that they need to take care with their mental health to keep cognitive diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer’s at bay.
On a positive note, regardless of age or stage of life, people never stop learning and the brain never stops processing information. In recent published articles from a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) it was found that brain training conducted by older adults had positive effects on the brain that could last for ten years. Science has demonstrated that keeping the brain active as people age can be beneficial and also how enduring the effects of engaging in cognitive training can be.
Brain Training can be challenging but not stressful while certainly enjoyable for older people says RaiseYourIQ founder Doctor Bryan Roche, an author and who also lectures in “Interventions to enhance intellectual skills” at NUIM University. Doctor Roche’s support for brain training is backed up by his research interest in the experimental analysis of complex human behavior and in particular in the analysis of language and cognitive processes vis-à-vis Relational Frame Theory (RFT). He employs the concepts of Relational Frame Theory in social psychological research into implicit testing the development of teaching protocols to enhance general cognitive functioning.
Brain training is about teaching seniors and adults to continue to learn and enhance the brains ability to processes information. These “relational brain training skills” teaches a range of crucial relational skills that help to sharpen intellectual and cognitive ability in people of any age. When these skills are improved, the scientific research suggests, all intellectual tasks come easier. It can help seniors and adults make sense of new information the mind encounters while also helping people to think more clearly.
With the increase awareness of mental well-being as people age there is allot of discussion on the benefits of brain training, brain health and how to keep the mind sharp in later life. Now doctors and psychologists with support from clinical trials (especially in the area of relational frame training) have identified that the only brain training programs that have a lasting effect on the brain, are the ones focused on improving the relational skills in a person.
The ongoing research being carried out at Johns Hopkins University, Baylor College of Medicine, and NUIM University along with other universities into Brain training science for seniors and adults is shattering the myth that seniors, and older people, can’t learn new information. The real life benefits into cognitive training is that people who participate in brain training exercises report they have an easier time with daily activities such as managing medications, cooking meals or handling financial matters. The brain training programs they interact with are focused on teaching strategies to improve cognitive performance, like memory training to teach seniors how to remember names or lists or reasoning training to help older people recognize number sequences.
Brain training for seniors has become an important part of mental and life well-being. Other studies have shown that seniors who are cognitively active are 2.6 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia than those who are not. This is not a scare statistic but one that might encourage older adults to consider taking some time in their weekly routine to sharpen the cognitive skills. As people age, there is a tendency to concentrate on diet like eating healthier food and doing light physical exercises to be in shape however scientists point out that some amount of brain activity is also needed for a more complete lifestyle that supports the ageing process. Brain Training is not time demanding, in fact just spending 20 to 30 minutes a day on playing brain games to keep the brain active and agile will see changes that last a decade. Brain training for seniors will be a habit that sees them stay sharp for a longer time leading to a longer self-reliable life.