Computer Games help Alzheimer's?

There is a great deal of research that shows that challenging mental exercises can definitely delay or postpone the symptoms of dementia.www.sharpbrains.com is a site that collects and disseminates information about brain fitness and research. We use and promote the computer-based brain fitness software by www.cognifit.com. They also have a program called Senior Driver that helps people sharpen their driving skills. This is going to be a big industry when baby boomers find out about the research!

I've heard that it does help - I also know of two elderly ladies who keep themselves sharp by doing Sudoku and word puzzle games, cross word etc. They have remained active, alert, conversationally good in their 70s and 80s.

Doing any of these types of games is better than not, but there is a major difference between brain games and structred brain training. Here's a link to an article that discusses thedifference.

http://www.cognifit.com/science-articles/brain-games-or-brain-training-%E2%80%93-which-better

As I wrote on my blog at WWW.Levaunt.wordpress.com

I spent some time at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas trying the Dakim BrainFitness program http://www.dakim.com/ . It was well designed and fun to do. With the variety of exercises, it may hold up quite well for long time usage. They currently have some 350 in US senior centers. They also introduced a retail version that runs on Macs and PCs for about $350.

The major market driver behind the product is the hope that it will delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease. As Dakim says in their introduction, “Every seventy-one seconds, another senior is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. By age 85 half the population is afflicted.”

Unfortunately, there is no clear evidence as yet that any of the brain fitness programs will do this.

The recent Scientific American article does a pretty good job of explaining what the training trials have shown –and not shown- so far.

Their conclusion is, “One thing remains clear: there is no serious harm to brain training other than the effect on your wallet (and the risk of some egg on your face if your seven-year old can play them better). And evidence is accumulating that they not only improve the skills they are designed to help, but likely generalize to other cognitive abilities and have some long-lasting benefits. If you’re working at them now, we advise you to keep it up!”

Seems like good advice.

Jack

Thanks for all the responses. I think I will start playing more games myself :)

i've found the game of mahjohng is a good mental exercise