Which are the benefits of cognitive stimulation in adults?
Cognitive stimulation in adults is used as a therapy to help maintain active cognitive functions in people who have, or are at risk for, cognitive impairment. The means to achieve such good mental health is to keep the brain active, by performing exercises in memory, orientation, attention, or language, among others.
Today, cognitive practice is especially important for adults and the elderly, because we are living longer and longer. With the good news of longevity, there is a problem: if we live longer, there is more time, and therefore more options, to suffer from cognitive diseases, such as dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Therefore, since the perspective is that we live more years, the recommendation is that those years are lived in a good state of health, both physical and mental. We know that physical exercise is essential to keep our body healthy; the same goes for cognitive stimulation to keep the mind active.
Why are online exercises perfect for adults?
- Ease of use of the program, both in accessing and performing exercises
- Activities with simple, intuitive designs and accompanied by sound support.
- Use of visual resources and easily recognizable elements for users aged 50 and over.
- Greater involvement and motivation in an inclusive therapy mode that empowers the elderly in the use of technological elements.
What kind of people are cognitive exercises recommended for?
In both cases it is highly recommended to perform cognitive stimulation exercises; the difference lies in the objective to be pursued in each of the groups.
Healthy older people, with no signs of deterioration
In this first case we would talk about the recommendation to perform cognitive stimulation as a prevention and as a way to maintain a healthy lifestyle after a certain age, including the exercise of the mind. It is a way of encouraging adults from 55-60 years old to remain active, to carry out activities prescribed by professionals and thus avoid, as far as possible, reaching more advanced states of deterioration.
People with mild or moderate cognitive impairment
It has been proven in several scientific studies that cognitive stimulation in older people with mild impairment contributes to the maintenance of cognitive functions. Rehabilitation of impaired functions can be achieved and further decline can be prevented.
Which are the cognitive stimulation activities for adults and seniors?
Exercises for orientation
We work on the capacity we have to be aware of our own person, (personal orientation), to situate ourselves in time (temporal orientation) and to locate and/or recognize the space around us (spatial orientation).
Exercises of gnosias
Gnosias stimulate the capacity that our brain has to recognize and correctly perceive the stimuli of the environment that surrounds us through our senses.
Praxias exercises
In the praxias activities we reinforce the skills we acquire to achieve specific objectives. These are the organised movements that we make with our body in our daily lives, such as talking or smiling or using a specific object.
Exercises for attention
All those processes aimed at selecting and focusing on those stimuli that we consider relevant at each moment are stimulated.
Exercises for the memory
The memory exercises work on the ability to effectively code, store and retrieve learned information. Cognitive practice includes different types of memory; sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory.
Language exercises
Language is the ability to relate a system of codes to the meanings of objects or ideas. It is intimately linked to memory and serves to transmit our thoughts, ideas and emotions and thus maintain communication in our society. Within language, several basic functions are exercised: oral comprehension, oral expression, reading and writing.
Executive functions
We are talking about the set of skills and cognitive processes that we develop in order to adapt to our environment and perform specific actions. Among them, the most important in therapy may be: reasoning, planning and goal setting, decision making or time estimation, among others.