| Elderly Should Challenge Brain With More Than Puzzles |
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| Angelika | |
| Monday, 19 November 2007 | |
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There are many things elderly people can do to keep their memory sharp. Sudoku, crossword puzzles and learning a foreign language are examples. Memory training is necessary "because every one of us will get Alzheimer's disease if we live long enough," said Professor Wolf Dieter Oswald, who leads a group conducting research into dementia at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. "People with dementia cannot care for themselves," Oswald said. A self-help approach is a way people can help themselves out of this dilemma. Signs that an older person's mental abilities are failing are first evident in little things. "One cannot remember a telephone number or a shopping list or cannot remember on the spur of the moment where the car is parked," said Florian Schmiedek of the Max Planck Institute for educational research. People affected by problems such as these should actively do something to counter the mental atrophy. Whether mental training brings a positive result has not been conclusively determined, said Schmiedek. But, he added, in any case it would not be the other way around. Schmiedek, a psychologist, said every household can do something for itself. An example is practising lists of words. Strategies can be developed for memorizing lists, possibly by using memory aids, such as thinking of an image to prompt a memory of a word. "Visually vibrant images can be better anchored in the brain," said Schmiedek. It is not absolutely necessary that a person be well able to remember telephone numbers in order to be good at remembering several words. "As a rule the effect of the practised tasks have a bearing only on other similar tasks," said the psychologist. He warned against having great optimism that the mental exercises could increase one's intelligence, saying this hope is inflated. Oswald said mental exercise is sensible only when it is combined with physical exercise and when it is not routine. "People who pursue activities for both their bodies and their minds in their free time, not routinely, but rather altering their pattern, later in life have less dementia," Oswald said. Among other things, the professor recommends colour exercises using flash cards with the words red, blue, green, etc., written on them in ink that does not match the word. The word blue written in red ink, for example. This intentionally simple activity requires a lot of activity from the brain, which must react quickly and in effect perform two things at once. Exercises for every day can be found just about anywhere, said Oswald. When driving, look at the signs for rest stops and try to remember later what was on the signs, he said. The newspaper is also a suitable tool for doing mental exercises. Go through any article quickly marking, for example, every a and n one after the another. Newspapers also typically offer crossword puzzles, but the experts don't think much of doing them to keep brain cells fit. "Crossword puzzles are flat-out routine. If you've gone through 10 of them, you are able to do 11 off the top of your head. Sudoku is more demanding, but in the end it falls into a routine activity as well. The secret lies much more in giving the brain constant challenges and 'aggravations,'" Oswald said. "Playing the same piece on the piano does nothing. But by contrast starting to play piano at the age of 80 brings results." It should not, however, come at the expense of spending less time in the gym working out or lifting weights. Courses to promote memory are worthwhile only if the participant also exercises and eats a balanced diet, said Christina Ding-Greiner, a gerontologist from Heidelberg. Strenuous walking, for example, makes sense. She said a week's diet should include two eggs, fish once or twice and a lot of fruits and vegetables. Low-fat milk products provide the necessary protein and calcium. In addition Ding-Greiner advises elderly people to seek out social contact. "Take a language course at an adult educational programme," she said. "A memory course can also be sensible. The worst would be sitting on the couch and stuffing chips in your mouth." Source: Sapa-dpa |
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