Have You Ever Played the Concentration Game? Find Out Why It is Important for Your Elderly Loved One to focus on memory related activities.

Concentration: the Game … How this Can Improve Senior Care near Buffalo Grove, IL

An elderly individual doesn’t need to have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or any other form of dementia to focus on memory related activities. For those who may rely on senior care, the more exercise they provide for their brain, the better it’s going to be for them over the long run.

The brain is a muscle.

Even though it doesn’t look like much more than a gelatin-like substance, the brain is a muscle. It won’t harden or grow in size with exercise, but when you don’t give your brain the exercise that it needs, it can pose some serious issues over time, just like any muscle in the body.

If you were to sit on a couch, eat candy all day, and not get any exercise, what happens? Your muscles begin to deteriorate. They break down and turn into fatty cells that won’t serve you any good. When you don’t exercise your mind, the neurons and synapses will begin to die off. Once a brain cell dies, it is never going to be regenerated; you only have however many brain cells that you’ll ever have.

There are several great activities that you can do through senior care that can make a world of difference for the patient and his or her mental well-being. One of those games is called ‘Concentration.’

Directions for playing the Concentration game.

This game can be played with any type of playing cards, such as a traditional deck of cards. The object is to find all matching pairs of cards and get more than your opponent. It can be a lot of fun to play with the senior care service provider working with the patient.

Shuffle the cards thoroughly and then place each card face down on a table. They should be organized into neat rows. Place the cards face down in 4 rows of 13 cards in each row so that you’re looking at all cards, and they are lined up.

The first player turns over any two cards he or she wants. If they have a match (two 2’s, 2 jacks, etc.) then they take those two cards and turn over two more. If they don’t have a match, they should make not of what cards they turned over and exactly where they are. Then the next player goes.

The more cards you turn over that aren’t matches, the more likely you’ll turn over one of its matches next time, so concentrating and keeping track of where every card is becomes advantageous.

This is a simple and fun senior care activity that can do a world of good for overall brain health.

If you or an aging loved one are considering senior care near Buffalo Grove,  -contact the caring staff at Companion Services of America today at (847) 943-3786.

Our senior care service area includes Northbrook, Highland Park, Deerfield, Glenview, Buffalo Grove, Evanston, Des Plaines, Skokie, Lake Forest, Wilmette and the surrounding areas.

Jamie Shapiro