Cognitive Health: Games That Will Help Seniors Stay Mentally Fit

Brain training games don’t halt the normal process of aging, but they do play a huge role in keeping the brain healthy and active. Mentally stimulating activity is good for all age groups, but the benefits are more significant for people over sixty. We’ve rounded up a few fun games that will exercise and nourish the brain and help boost cognitive abilities and overall health after 60.

Card games

Playing card games trigger the parts of the brain that involve strategy, memory, and sequencing. They also involve a level of verbal interaction and socialization which may stave off geriatric depression and mitigate boredom.

Bridge: Bridge helps you develop memory, strategy, and attentiveness. It also allows you to practice skills like logic, reasoning, quick thinking, patience, concentration, and partnership. Since Bridge needs at least four players, you could make a fun evening out of it. This heightens the social component of the game and maximizes the benefits.

Go Fish: A simple card game like Go Fish helps you stay mentally alert. Since the rules are so easy to follow, it’s easy to encourage a reticent senior to play.

Board games

Classic board games could boost your mental health after 60. The New England Journal of Medicine showed that people over 75 who played brain-stretching board games were less likely to develop dementia than seniors who didn’t. Here are some fun games you could play that come in a box.

Checkers: Everyone loves checkers and it’s a game that can be played with grandkids. Studies show that intergenerational bonding reduces stress and improves your health after 60 so you get to boost the benefits of an already stimulating game.

Chinese Checkers: This activates the problem-solving muscle in the brain and is very absorbing.

Chess: Seniors who like a challenge can play a game of chess to exercise strategy, creative thinking, problem-solving, pattern recognition, and abstract reasoning.

Jigsaw Puzzles: This can be done as a solo activity or in a group and it helps with visual recognition and organization.