Brain Games

[ChrisJ]

Has it been proven that doing any of the mental games such as sudoku will ward off dementia or slow down the progress of it? I have to say I find the difference of opinion over such claims very confusing...!

[Dr Andrew McCaddon]

That is an excellent question! I must admit, although I also often repeat the "use it, or lose it" argument to encourage such activity, I am not aware of any well conducted placebo controlled randomized clinical trials of such activities, which are the "gold standard" of proving that such an effect is real. Their certainly is an association however, in that doing crossword puzzles, playing board games, and playing musical instruments etc is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline. However, I have struggled to find any randomized controlled clinical trials of this effect. Perhaps the other experts can assist here?

[Nurse Ian Weatherhead]

Hi Chris,

I'm in agreement with Andrew on this one. There is always conflicting advice on the effectiveness of brain games.
There is evidence to suggest that higher intellect can slow down the risk of developing Alzheimer's as more areas of the brain tend to be used, but in reality this only disguises the symptoms rather than prevents them, the more brain area we use the more reserves we have to cope..

The one thing to be aware of if caring for someone with dementia re brain games, if the person has never done puzzles, jigsaws , wordsearches etc before they develop dementia, they are more likely to struggle with them after onset due to difficulty processing new information. So it's more likely to cause more agitation than help.

[Dr Dan Nightingale]

Hi. Both Dr McCadden and Ian are correct in what they say. If one considers the brain to be a muscle, the more exercise it gets, the stronger it is and the better it functions. I refer you to the work carried out by David Snowden in his book Aging with Grace - The Nun Study. If you look on Amazon you will be able to get a copy for a few pounds. One of the findings in that study relates to the type of sentence structure and language used by Novice Nuns when entering the convent. For some reason, back in the 1940's, Mother Superior requested that all the Novices wrote a page or so about their life and why they had chosen the path of entering the Sisters of Notre Dam. When David compared the writings, against the surviving nuns that had written them, those who had used intricate and complex language structure had a less prevalence rate of Dementia in comparison to the ones who had used simple and basic language. His conclusion, and I believe there is similar evidence duplicating this outcome, is that continued education may protect against the onset and development of dementia. Please read the book - in my opinion, this study, often considered to be the biggest ever in terms of dementia, is a fantastic resource. You may also log in to their website, www.nunstudy.org

[OT Lindsey Skelt]

Thank you, I will definately be looking up the nun study! Like Dr McCaddon I often have thought of the 'Use it or lose it' phrase. As an Occupational Therapist we use activity and occupation to support and encourage people to remain independent. As Ian said its not always necessary to try a completey new 'brain game' sometimes continuing with existing hobbies and interests is more valuable. Its often a case of learning to adapt the activity so the person can continue with it. For example if someone has always enjoyed jigsaws but can nolonger manage a more complex 1000 piece jigsaw its a question of trying a 500 piece one with larger pieces. Somone that has always had an interet in gardening may not be able to continue as they have in the past, but may however enjoy planting smaller tubs of bulbs or looking at a gardening magazine and talking about interesting articles. Sometimes it is not the end result that is important but the enjoyment of doing the activity and being part of it.