Trivia Games for the Elderly
From LoveToKnow Seniors
Trivia games for the elderly are ideal for maintaining cognitive function and awareness. Trivia games provide an interactive tool for friends and family members as well as friendly challenges that not only stimulate the mind, but also social skills.
Importance Trivia Games for the Elderly
Trivia games for the elderly provide mental stimulation, an important component to mental and cognitive health in aging minds. Brain teasers, crossword puzzles, word finds and trivia games all require multiple areas of the brain to interact in order to process and retrieve data. The brain is a muscle; if it is not used it can become atrophied.
Regular mental stimulation can actually delay the onset of diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s, which impair cognitive functioning. Trivia games require memory and stimulate the pathways through the cerebral cortex required to link the question to the image or to the answer.
Trivial Pursuit and Other Board Games
Board games are a popular past time for senior citizens, particularly if they are grandparents. Children love to play board games. As children age, engaging them in trivia based games is one way to encourage mental activity. Board games are a good social activity for seniors to participate in with friends or at local community or senior centers.
For solitary seniors, online trivia games as well as trivia books can be a way to keep the mental stimulation flowing. Trivia books are available that allow seniors to answer trivia questions from decades past. While these types of trivia games can be fun, it is important that trivia be widely-based and come from multiple time periods.
In most cases of memory loss, the most distant memories actually remain intact, while more recent memories are the ones that fade. Part of this is due to the what happens while the body is asleep. Mental processes are reinforced during rest periods. If the brain is not stimulated during the day, or if recently acquired memories aren't emphasized, then those processes are not reinforced.
Other Trivia Options
The Nintendo DS features a product called Brain Age that uses mental exercises, trivia and math to keep the brain active. Online sites that offer trivia options include:
- Fun Trivia – This site is jam packed with trivia games, entertainment games and more.
- Trivia, Quizzes and More – This site is packed with entertainment, celebrity and historical trivia questions. You’ll need to login.
- MSN Free Games – MSN features many different types of games including trivia games. A free account is necessary to play.
Create Your Own Trivia Game
Seniors and elderly family members should create their own personal trivia questions and answers. By recording personal history, events and world history together, you can provide your family with an invaluable record of your life. By turning it into a trivia game, you can keep yourself stimulated and engage younger family members in contests to see who knows the most about you.
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This page has been accessed 2,659 times. This page was last modified 23:20, 31 July 2009.
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