by richd on November 16, 2011
Many scientists believe that social interaction is One key to maintaining good mental health and warding off diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. Recent studies document the positive effects of social interaction on brain health. Although researchers are not certain what happens in the brain to produce the positive effects seen among the more socially engaged, it appears clear that social intercourse has a beneficial impact on memory and cognitive function as we age.
An important factor to social interaction is the ability to meet new people and remember their names. Retirement brought this home for me. When I was working I had plenty of social interaction but when I retired I found myself socially more isolated. I had my family and my wife but I need more social interaction. I knew and interacted with lots of people but I didn’t know their names and when I heard their names I wouldn’t remember next time we met.
Memory is a muscle and muscles need exercise. The games at Lumosity are organized into courses such as Memory boost which includes games focused on improving memory. Just as in a physical workout a mental workout only works if you do. And like a physical workout these mental games systematically work different aspects of memory.
I saw immediate improvement. I go to the gym everyday around the same time. The same general group of people are usually there, I speak to them but we don’t really talk. I started making it my purpose to learn and remember their names.
The first stage was about confidence. I had to be sure enough about my memory of the person’s name to use it confidently. I began to ask people their names and if possible to verify the spelling, and to use the name at least twice during the conversation. If I saw them again before I left the gym I’d address them by name.
This focus and concentration on names coupled with the exercise in the games drastically improved my ability to remember names and as a result my interactions with people became deeper and more satisfying.
Bottom line is that growing older is not an excuse for a bad memory .
I had an exercise in humility this morning graciously provide by our friends at Lumosity. I’d finally moved up a level with the “Familiar Faces” game. I hit the “Zone” yesterday and remembered everyone’s name. This morning I was presented with the new level with new faces, added variables like orders that were not ordered, and orders presented out of sequence after new characters had been presented. I was basically back to the humble beginnings. I’ve been playing Lumosity Brain Games for about a year and the main reason I started was that I wanted to get better at remembering people’s names. Now I have gotten better, lots better…these games work. I get real pleasure remembering someones name and seeing them trying to remember mine…that used to be me. Brain Fitness, keeping our brain fit is something we can do something about, just like Physical fitness…get a brain workout.
Reclaim Your Brain: Fight Cognitive Decline with Brain Games. Free Trial.
I’ll discuss my experience with brain workouts with the luminosity games here. If you want to go ahead and try the games click the link above its Free. Fighting cognitive decline associated with age was one of my motivations for starting the games, and I kept playing because I could see that the brain workouts were keeping my brain fit and sharp.
Remembering names makes a big difference in my social life, my memory improved. I no longer feel that a failing memory is an inevitable result of getting older. Yes, memory loss does happen to some of us as we get older but we can do something about it. Improved brain health is a personal decision.
It’s interesting how the games interact. Word Bubbles requires recalling words that start with three letters under time pressure. This exercises the same recall function as remembering names in Familiar Faces, and remembering patterns in Memory Matrix. It’s a workout exercising all the muscles in the brain for greater overall strength and flexibility.
I find several things about the games frustrating. One is when you change levels your score doesn’t go back to zero so I find myself competing against my best score at an easier level. This makes it hard to see my progress at the new harder level since the only scores that are recorded are the high ones. I notice this on “Bird Watching” and “Familiar Faces” though it probably happens on the other games I just don’t notice.
I’ve focused here mostly on older people like me interested in keeping the brain fit but these games work for everybody. My grandson was having trouble relating to math so I started him on the Lumosity Math Tutor. Now he gets to play video games on Gramp’s computer. He’s been playing for about a month and his teacher says he’s doing much better. Brain workouts can help all age groups improve brain fitness.
