Southern Senior Care Blog

Every year I am amazed at how many new discoveries are made in the world of medicine. But with these breakthrough’s comes the realization of how much we still don’t know about so many things. One of the most frustrating diseases that we face today is Alzheimer’s. For those who are currently caring for a loved one or who have experienced the frustration, helplessness, pain, sorrow, anger, etc, etc, etc, of caring for a loved with with Alzheimer’s, there is very little comfort in hearing that researchers are discovering more every day. The ones who will benefit from the research that is going on, have probably not even been diagnosed with it yet.

So, What can we do in the meantime?

Most suggestions are theoretical right now. But most of these suggestions are easy to do, so you may want to incorporate them into your daily life in the event, these theories turn out to be helpful after all. Some are related to food, and vitamins. Some are activities. I’m going to stick to the activities for this article. The common theme is “Work Your Brain.” Work as much of it as possible on a regular basis. And unfortunately, watching “Dancing with the Stars,” and your favorite Soap Operas doesn’t really work your brain all that much. So, here is a list of things that I have read about over the last few months.

1. Read Out Loud - This one makes sense. When you read to yourself, you work certain parts of the brain. When you read out loud, you work even more.  Reading out loud gets the muscular control parts of the brain involved. The article didn’t suggest this, but I’m thinking if you were to take a few minutes every day and juggle three or four round household objects while riding a unicycle, AND while reading Shakespeare aloud, you would scare off Alzheimer’s for at least several years.

2. Sudoku - If you haven’t seen anyone working on a crossword-looking puzzle with numbers in the boxes instead of letters, then you definitely have not been getting out of the house enough. These little puzzles have come on strong over the last few years. They take a little practice, but once you get the hang of them, they can be a lot of fun.

3. Brain Age and Brain Age 2 - This one is DEFINITELY my favorite. My kids think I’m the weirdest dad on the block. I asked for, and got a Nintendo DS Lite for Christmas. These are the pocket sized game devices that you have likely seen kids staring at any time they are waiting on their parent somewhere.  Here’s a picture, to jog your memory (if it’s not too late.)

You can pick up a DS at any electronics store for about $129.00. The Brain Age and Brain Age 2 programs are about $20. So for less than the cost of your average tier 2 prescription you can get something that could have a far greater impact on your life. And, the activities in these programs are really fun. Of course your friends, neighbors and family members may think you’ve lost it, but that’s better than them “knowing” that you’ve lost it. Here’s a couple of pictures of the Brain Age programs, just so you know what they look like.

4. Play Cards or Dominoes - I’ve talked to lots of people who wouldn’t miss their weekly bridge, canasta, or dominoes games. Keep it up. Research definitely shows that playing any kind of game works the brain, and that’s what we’re after.

5. Good old physical exercise - You just can’t get away from this one. “Diet and Exercise,” “Eat well and Exercise,” “Healthy Diet and Exercise.” The thing is, exercise gets the blood flowing all over the body, including the brain. More Oxygen to the brain is usually a good thing. So you might want to keep an eye out for that unicycle in your Garage Sale hunts.

6. Create your own Website - Now this one will probably get the most sneers. But, there are a number of tools available today that make creating your own websites, blogs and Wiki’s easier than ever. I use WordPress for this blog. It’s very simple and it’s totally free. Just create and account and start typing. If you want to really be on the cutting edge, then consider starting your own Wiki, as in Wikipedia. Take a look at Wikidot.com if you’re interested.

7. Solve one or more of the Millennium Problems - The The Clay Mathematics Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts (CMI) is offering $1 million dollars for each of seven mathematical problems. So you can fight off Alzheimer’s AND get a million dollars in the process. If interested then go to the Clay Mathematics Institute website.

We’ll Crimestoppers (re: Steve Martin skits, 1970-1980), these should keep you busy for a while. Send me other good mind exercises that you’ve heard of, and we’ll add them to this blog.