What are some great memory exercises for senior citizens?
1. Aerobics
Two types of aerobics we have these days: water aerobics and chair fit, low impact, and dance. Overall, aerobics is an entertaining and active exercise that builds your body and brings you happiness. One of the suitable exercises for seniors is aerobics. You can meet many seniors, make friends, and enlarge your social network. As a senior, I think the bright side of aerobics can be increased body activity, reduced blood pressure, and becoming fit. There’s no particular time for sports activity, but some experts recommend workout time for seniors.
2. Dancing
Dance is an excellent sport activity and a hobby for everyone, including seniors. Dance is a proper answer that positively impacts your morale to increase your heart stability and burn your extra fat. Dance is an excellent exercise for seniors; you make friends and have a good time with them. All aside, you can stay home with your family or partner, turn the TV on, have music or sports channel on and roll with it. This exciting activity can make you energetic for the rest of the day.
3. Band Workout
Using an elastic rubber or bands, you can do a band workout. In this workout, you stretch bands with your hand and do somebody’s activities simultaneously, a safe and harmless body activity for seniors. You can also find suit material at home and do this workout with your family and friends. Band workout has positive effects on your mobility, posture, and balance. This workout can improve your leg, triceps, lateral, and bicep muscles. More importantly, you get to feel better through exercises for seniors, which make your life better.
4. Pilates
Pilates has its position among people worldwide as a low-impact sport recently. Pilates is an excellent exercise for seniors. In Pilates, we should practice breathing because it helps to have better body strength and concentration. Breathing is an essential part of Pilates to empty the lungs from carbon dioxide and reach a better feeling. A ball and a mat are all you need in Pilates.
You should do activities like stretching and keep your balance sitting on the ball. Because you work on balance and flexibility, Pilates is a suitable sport for seniors. You can concentrate on side circles, food slides, step-ups, leg circles, and mermaid movement. Pilates is a proper and safe choice among exercises for seniors.
The Best Brain Warm-up Exercises
Imagine that you wake in the morning and your brain is hung up! You have no idea what to do, even though you can’t focus on your works. So how would you deal with them? The solution is clear; in fact, you should wake your brain up in the mornings too.You are aware of the positive impact of having a healthy mind which makes you more motivated and helps you have a better life.
1. Looking for Nouns from Each Letter.
Back in school, our teacher made meaningful names to teach us alphabets. For instance, we quickly built the noun “Aladdin” when we saw “A.” So now, experts found out that making nouns is an acceptable way to activate our mind. Both sides of the brain function in this practice. For example, you are searching for a letter in the alphabet, and the left side of your brain helps you think about the word. You can also search among names and characters in your mind. This is a helpful practice to stay more focused and lower the risk of amnesia. This game can be played with grandchildren, which is a way of maintaining mental health in retirement.
2. Listen to music
In the past few years, experts found how music, especially classical music, affects the health and minds of seniors. Plus, classical music is a pacifier to dementia and depression. Scientists named this the Mozart Effect. With classical music, we feel relaxed, and stress gets out of our cells. If you’re stressed and uncomfortable, we recommend classical music as a senior. Classical music is a device to warm up your brain, so listen to it having breakfast.
3. Yoga
At the beginning of the article, we mentioned yoga. Yoga is excellent for our physical strength and mind. Basically, in yoga, you concentrate on your body and mind simultaneously. Exercise and meditation together have some pros, like losing weight and working on your breathing. Breathing is an essential part of each activity so that yoga can lessen the stress and spiritual pressures. Plus, yoga is a brain warm-up exercise. So, stop wasting time and do yoga.
4. Writing
In psychotherapy, this activity is called brain dumping. In this activity, you note down everything that comes to your mind. It’s not an expensive and complicated brain activity, and its requirements are some paper and a pen. You can concentrate on your memories or thoughts and note them on paper. Sometimes writing can take you out of the stressed situation and focus on your essay. So you can give it a shot after finishing this article if you have never tried it before.
5. Brain games
Brain games (like Sudoku, puzzles, card games, and backgammon, which are the fun ones) are fantastic if you’re looking for brain warm-up exercises. It can be played individually or with your partner or friends. During these games, our mind looks fiercely for solutions; as a result, it can’t think about the negatives. Don’t forget that our brain needs to relax during the day to do duties perfectly, so brain games are a great option to give a break to our minds from unnecessary things.
Brain exercises mainly depend on people’s personalities and thinking tactics. Like other forms of exercise, not everyone is a good runner, but can’t they lift weights or do push-ups? And not everyone likes to do push-ups; does that mean they can’t enjoy yoga?
Learning something new is an excellent brain exercise—a new hobby, like board games, Sudoku, or learning to play an instrument. Learning a new language can also help improve memory and thinking skills. But the crucial part of choosing a brain exercise is the likelihood of enjoying and committing to the program.
As a physician, I’m not convinced that the concept of “brain exercise” or “memory exercise” is realistic. You can learn new things, but it doesn’t mean you’ll be better at learning new things in the future. The trendy “brain training apps” have been found to improve your skills at solving that type of puzzle (leading to higher scores), but they do not translate into any extra external abilities. I’m sorry if I wasn’t helpful. That’s all that I know.
Following a recipe and preparing a meal can stimulate the brain and force complex thinking habits. Gardening, woodworking, home decorating, painting, or photography are all great memory exercises for senior citizens.
Art is ideal for getting your creative juices flowing and your brain engaged in a project.
Coloured pencils with an adult colouring book are a simple way to boost your memory.
Reading also enhances brain function and connectivity. Reading or listening to an audiobook is a proper workout for the brain, providing other calming benefits at the same time.
Games are a delightful way to interact and use some complex thinking skills. Jigsaw puzzles and Sudoku will boost logical thinking and help in the proper functioning of the brain. Some seniors find writing soothing and brain-stimulating. Writing down ideas, thoughts, and daily activities boosts memory and awareness.