Memory Improvement - Every Little Bit Helps

When it comes to boosting Mom's memory, or helping with memory improvement just about any type of activity or endeavor can be beneficial.

Most people don't realize that the brain is an organ that needs to be exercised just like every other muscle in the body in order to retain its tone, elasticity, cellular development and growth, and maintain optimal function.

Brain Games

Any kind of activity that encourages thought, imagination, stimulation or memory will enhance Mom's ability to focus, remember, and maintain thinking and reasoning skills and processes. Your imagination is the only limit to the types of activities you can encourage Mom to participate in that could provide her optimal benefits with memory improvement .

Even if Mom has been diagnosed with mild dementia, you can engage her in activities or games that will stimulate neural pathways and encourage new nerve cell and brain cell development. What kind of activities are we talking about?  Anything that challenges and engages the brain.

For examples, math games like Sudoku, crossword puzzles, fitting a jigsaw puzzle, playing hidden object games, word search games, as well as other games like solitaire or good old-fashioned board games are all effective in helping to stimulate Mom's brain.

Such games can be solitary endeavors, done with you or a caregiver, or as part of a group activity. The key is to keep Mom thinking. Thinking, reasoning and problem-solving could force the brain to function at optimal levels and also encourage new brain cell growth in certain areas of the brain. Learning a new skill, a new craft, or doing something different every day will help Mom's brain develop memory patterns through familiarity and repetition for memory improvement.

 

Remember when Mom used to say, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again?" This is a perfect example of how the brain functions. Through repetition, the brain remembers. It memorizes. This doesn't mean you have to perform the same actions every day. On the contrary. The more stimulation and challenged you give the brain, this more effective it functions, including in memory retention.

Dementia

If Mom has been diagnosed with a mild form of dementia or is going through the early stages of Alzheimer's, help boost her memory by encouraging visual and verbal recognition and speech patterns.

For example, even if Mom knows what the pieces of furniture in her living room are, point them out and ask her to repeat them. Also stimulate her brain by encouraging game play. These two things not only enhance and boost memory, but encourage new brain cell growth that may help slow memory loss, confusion, or a slowing of reasoning and cognitive skills.

Brain exercises can also include anything from learning famous quotes or sayings such as "One if by land and two if by sea" to encouraging Mom to remember former school topics such as the state names and state capitals. Get a book on flowers, cars, dog breeds, or wildlife from your local library and encourage Mom to identify pictures.

Doing so also stimulates verbal abilities and speech patterns that certain types of dementia may affect. The key toward boosting Mom's memory involves active participation in activities and events around her.

Encourage Mom to do something different every day. Put music on and ask Mom to sing along with some of her favorite singers of the past. If Mom is able have her show you how she used to dance as a teenager. You'd be amazed at the things your Mom can remember with a little encouragement and enthusiasm.

Maintaining Brain Function - Memory Improvement

The bottom line is to continually stimulate and challenge the brain to learn new things.  Something as little as brushing her teeth or washing her face with her nondominant hand can stimulate

Mom's brain and encourage her brain to continually develop neural pathways that keep her sharp, focused, and attentive. Focus, attention to detail and attention spans are some of the most valuable aspects in memory improvement and retention. Don't let Mom's brain get lazy. A lazy brain will forget things more easily than an active and stimulated one.

---

Back to Brain Games