Get a Brain Boost by Playing Games!

Staying young and healthy involves more than just eating right and being physically fit. It also requires flexing brain cells by learning new things, and a good way to keep the brain active is by playing games.

Stimulate Your Brain by Playing Games

When we learn new things, including playing games, we are greasing the brain's gears, keeping them "tuned up". This is especially important as we age, so when Grandma or Grandpa joins a game group, social website or engages in online games they are firing up their neurons and staying young, so encourage them to keep it up! If they aren't tech-savvy, help them flex brain cells by learning to play a new board or card game together. You'll both benefit from the brain boost!

Game Websites

For internet users, there are many websites that offer a wide variety of games, such as MSN games, Yahoo! Games or Pogo.com. These sites offer a good selection of free games and others that require an annual membership fee. In many games sites you can play live against another human and chat as you play. There are also games available through Facebook that stimulate brainpower. Try Bejeweled Blitz, Farkle, Scrabble or Family Feud.

AARP Games

The over-fifties organization, AARP, provides health and fitness tips in their monthly magazine and newsletters. They also have a great website for Seniors that offers brain-stimulating activities and games. On the website, you can play the standards such as chess, checkers, or solitaire, as well as a host of new games, including the popular Sudoku.

When it comes to crossword puzzles, AARP's online version might make your toss out the paper! The clues for each word appear by clicking on the number on the crossword grid. The easiest version indicates that the correct letters have been entered by turning blue. When they are wrong they will appear in red. If you prefer more of a challenge, play the expert version. Either way, you'll enjoy this easy online version of an old favorite activity.

Learn to Play New Games

To fully flex your brain, it's helpful to push yourself to learn a new game in addition to playing your favorites. Here are a few examples of new online games that are as challenging as they are fun, available on the AARP website.

The "Right Word" - We all have had senior moments, where we are grasping for that one word that just won't roll off our tongues. This game is a great exercise to improve the ability to draw out that word. Each player first completes a profile indicating their gender and age, which customizes the word play appropriately. Players will be asked to reach into their brain for words they might not have used for a while to find the best word for the exercise, training their brain to find these words more easily. This game is fun and challenging, and players will find themselves driven to repeat the game in an effort to better their scores, which are measured against other players in their age group.

"Split Words" - If you love jumble word puzzles, you'll enjoy Split Words. It works like this; you are given a topic and approximately twenty words relating to that topic, broken into pieces. Players must use those word fragments to create the words that relate to the topic. You are scored by the number of words made, and penalized for wrong guesses and slow response time. Be prepared to be challenged while you are having fun playing this one!

"Pyramid Solitaire" - This is nothing like Grandma's solitaire. A deck of cards is layered in front of you with only a handful open. Your goal is to find two cards that add up to thirteen and click on them, which removes them from the top of the pile and opens up more plays. When there is no move, you draw from the pile. A very challenging part of this game for me was remembering that Jacks are worth eleven, Queens are twelve and Kings are worth thirteenk! Pyramid Solitare is fun and a challenge for brains of all ages!

Avoid brain atrophy by keeping your mind open to new things and making your brain perform challenging activity every day. Stay physically and mentally fit as you age and you'll enjoy a better quality of life in your golden years!

Resources:
AARP.com