Despite the fact that Alzheimer’s disease decline cannot be stopped, a study did discover that brain activities may help delay it by about five years. Why not try some memory-enhancing activities for Alzheimer’s with your aging relative if there is a chance that they might be beneficial? We have compiled a list of six senior activities that you can do with your family regularly.
Picture Painting
It is not necessary to be an expert painter to enjoy painting as a pastime that improves memory. Get some paints and canvas paper. Once you have everything you need, you can sit back with a paintbrush in hand and watch a helpful online video tutorial. Check out what happens if you follow the teacher’s lead, pausing the video as directed. Even if you both start from scratch, you might be amazed at what you come up with. At the end of the activity, you will also achieve a sense of achievement which boosts morale.
Gardening
Right now is a great time to get your aging relative involved in gardening by building a garden for them to maintain. As they need to remember each step, it is good for their memory, and you or a caregiver may always prompt them if they forget.
There may be a need for them to aerate the soil with compost or fertilizer, so they must do that as well. It is up to them to sow the seeds or tend the seedlings and provide them with water. Your relative has to keep an eye on their plants to ensure they are free of disease and damage from insects and weeds. These processes all help support brain activity.
Your relative must harvest the crops when they are ready, discard any damaged or diseased plants, and begin the procedure again if necessary. To enable them to enjoy gardening throughout the year, consider building an indoor garden for them.
Simple Games
A person’s ability to remember information can be greatly improved by playing games, even the most basic ones. Adults of all ages might enjoy playing classic children’s games like Guess Who? and Memory. Get together with other members of the family, whether they are grandkids or great-grandkids, and have your aging relative play games with you. If everyone joins in, they might not even notice that you are selecting games designed for younger audiences with an eye toward protecting their brainpower.
There are appropriate adult games too that will also help if they are particularly averse to children’s activities. Games like Yahtzee and Codenames are great for enhancing memory and strategic thinking because of their straightforward rules.
Jigsaw Puzzles
Put your minds together and work on a jigsaw puzzle. It is a great method to exercise your memory and test your hand-eye coordination. Your aging relative will have to figure out how the pieces fit together in the pattern. They must examine the box’s illustration and mentally construct a layout for the components that will result in a complete puzzle, thus stimulating their brain cells.