One of the biggest health concerns affecting people today is dementia, with Alzheimer’s Society figures showing that there are currently around 982,000 people living with the condition in the UK – a number that’s predicted to increase to 1.4 million in 2040.
While it may now be the UK’s biggest killer, you don’t necessarily have to accept your fate and dementia doesn’t have to be a natural part of the ageing process. In fact, there are many steps you can take to protect your health and keep cognitive decline at bay.
Making lifestyle changes now can make a significant difference to your health in later life. For example, getting regular exercise each week, following a well-balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, staying socially connected, getting enough sleep each night, drinking less alcohol and quitting smoking can all prove particularly beneficial.
However, another excellent strategy you can adopt – and one that could be a lot of fun – is to challenge your brain as much as you can, learning new skills, playing a musical instrument, taking up new hobbies, playing board games and reading.
If this is something you’d like to engage more in, the Concept Care team has tracked down five fun brain training games to play that could really help support brain health and potentially keep dementia at bay.
Sudoku
Although popularised in Japan, the origin of the number puzzle Sudoku can be traced all the way back to Switzerland in the 18th century, where a mathematician devised a game called Latin squares.
This game is particularly good for brain training because it uses lots of different cognitive functions, including reasoning, concentration, logic and problem-solving, as well as short-term memory.
Chess
If you don’t know how to play chess, now’s the time to learn! This classic strategy game helps you build logical reasoning and problem-solving skills – and you need to play it with someone else, so you’ll be socialising at the same time.
Jigsaw puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles aren’t just a lot of fun, they’re also surprisingly good for your health! Research shows that puzzling uses multiple visuospatial cognitive abilities and can be a protective factor for visuospatial cognitive ageing. If you’re really looking for a challenge, try mixing two different jigsaws and putting them back together!
Wordle
One very popular online game that you might like to try is Wordle, where you try to work out a daily five-letter word in six guesses, without any clues! A nice way to start the day and get your brain whirring as soon as you wake up.
Connections
Another great word puzzle to try is Connections, where you have a grid of different words and you have to try and find the connection between groups of four words. It can be a little Americanised so don’t beat yourself up if you don’t see a connection or two – but when you do get it right, it’s most satisfying indeed!
