This is obvious of course. All parts of the body demand activity to encourage cellular replenishment and a robust natural health. Why should the brain be much different?
The larger problem is that the majority have really never properly participated in any form of brain game for recreation and will unlikely start now.
At least this is encouragement to pick up your bridge game or poker at least and to stop apologizing for it..
Playing Online Games Can Help to Keep Your Brain Youthful
August 22nd, 2019
By Nikki Harper
https://wakeup-world.com/2019/08/22/playing-online-games-can-help-to-keep-your-brain-youthful
We live in an information-rich world,
which is a wonderful thing. However, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed
by so much information, especially if you are an older person. The
younger generation, who grew up not knowing anything different, may well
find themselves at ease with the digital onslaught, but for older
generations who lived most of their lives pre-internet, the wealth of
multimedia and digital information can sometimes be something of an
onslaught.
Cognitive multi-tasking is a key skill
in this day and age. We instinctively understand that these cognitive
abilities may slow down in older age – but is there a way of keeping
them fresher or sharper?
For the digitally frazzled, good news
comes from a recent study by the University of California, Irvine. The
study shows that, with practice, people in their 70s and 80s can become
as fast and adept at digital multi-tasking as people in their 20s and
30s [1].
The UCI study, just published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, leveraged data from
Lumosity, an online platform devoted to brain training games.
Researchers zeroed in on one game in particular, “Ebb and Flow”, which
involves switching tasks at speed while interpreting shapes and
movement. Millions of people have played this game in recent years – to
obtain their sample, researchers randomly analyzed data for 1000 game
players in two groups: those aged 21 to 80 who had played fewer than 100
times, and those aged 71-80 who had played more than a thousand times.
The results showed that those in the
older age group who had had regular practice, could match the results of
those aged 20-30 who had had no practice. The brain training isn’t a
miracle result by any means – and researchers found that once the
younger age group had had more than 10 practice sessions, the older age
group could no longer match them – but it does add weight to the theory
that brain exercises can help to keep cognitive abilities flexible and functioning into old age.
Previous studies had shown promise for brain training exercises in helping to slow down the early stages of Alzheimer’s [3], so this new study is another important link in the understanding of how cognitive exercises can help older brains.
This is vital research, because as our
improved lifestyles and medical care allow us to live longer, improved
longevity must be accompanied by improved elderly cognition if quality
of life, rather than mere length of life, is to be extended. “We show
that with consistent upkeep, cognitive youth can be retained well into
our golden years,” says lead study author Mark Steyvers, a UCI professor
of cognitive sciences [3].
Article sources:
[1] https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/08/13/1906788116
[2] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320093.php
[3] https://news.uci.edu/2019/08/19/online-brain-games-can-extend-in-game-cognitive-youth-into-old-age-uci-led-study-finds/
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