These Activities for Senior Citizen Centers Around Dementia Prevention

In this blog post, we explore various activities that senior citizen centers can offer to help prevent the symptoms of dementia and maintain brain function.

These Activities for Senior Citizen Centers Around Dementia Prevention
Dementia Prevention 

Brain Fitness Program to Avoid Symptoms of Dementia

Dementia is one of the biggest fears of people as they get older, and because of this there is a lot research into different activities for senior citizen centers to offer their clients. The actual activity itself doesn’t make much of a difference, as long as it makes the brain think about new ideas and how to apply new knowledge to the current situation. The suggested activities to help prevent the symptoms of dementia fall into three broad categories: whole body, nurture and creative

Whole Body Activities

Finding age appropriate activities for senior citizen centers to run is very hard, as each person’s body will be capable of different things. However, certain activities can help increase brain function by using more parts of the brain; some of the suggested activities are:

  • Walking
  • Swimming
  • Cycling
  • Gardening

People who don’t exercise much as they get older are more likely to lose function in the part of the brain that co-ordinates muscle movements. As all parts of the brain are interlinked, this can have negative effect on social and cognitive abilities. These activities are also communal things to do where the senior citizens can interact, making and maintaining relationships.

A ball of energy with electricity beaming all over the place.
Brain Health

Nurturing Activities

For those senior citizens who aren’t very physically capable, or who prefer to be indoors, any activity that encourages nurturing to take place will be an integral part of their brain fitness program. Nurturing activities for senior citizen centers could include:

  • Looking after a dog or cat. Many dog rescue charities will take retired greyhounds and seeing-eye dogs to senior citizen centers to be patted and groomed. These give the older people a new set of skills to learn and put into practice, as well as helping to maintain the links between body and brain
  • Growing a bonsai tree. While outdoor gardening takes a lot of time and physical stamina, often beyond some senior citizens’ abilities, growing bonsai trees requires more in the way of mental exercise. Working to keep them alive and pruned, stimulates the brain, but doesn’t need much in the way of physical effort.

Nurturing activities provide a target for senior citizens to focus on. They help keep symptoms of dementia at bay because they require long-term thinking and planning.

💡
Have a story about recovery you would like to share here? Help others realize that they are not alone. Submit Your Caregiver Story

Creative Activities

The final category for activities to keep the brain young is anything that requires creativity. This could be:

  • Learning new oil painting techniques
  • Creative writing or poetry
  • Learning how to take and manipulate digital photographs
  • Taking up a musical instrument

The creative part of the brain likes to learn new information and create new neural pathways through the brain. Any creative activity will also be a long-term goal to focus on, as well as being a tool to keep the memory structures active to retain the newly learned information.

These three categories should provide inspiration for a whole range of activities for senior citizen center to implement. Mental activities that require problem solving skills, such as crossword and Sudoku puzzles, will also help to keep the brain active by asking it to manipulate new information using previously learned rules.

Doing and learning something new will stimulate the brain.

Other articles about Senior Centers and Activities

More on Dementia Prevention

Growing Bonsai Trees
Art Lessons Plans and Learning Something New
Oil Painting Techniques Offer Mind and Body Connection Benefits

Relaxation Guided Imagery and Visualization Techniques for CaregiversRetirement Advice and Being Active
Pastels Art Lesson Plans
Beginner Guitar Lessons
Beginner Guitar Lessons Part Two
Piano Lessons for Beginners
Family Tree Research
Tai Chi for Seniors
Activities For Senior Citizens

From Activities for Senior Citizen Centers to Home Healthcare Home Page

💡
Do you need help caring for a loved one?

Our Resource section can help you find the information and tools that you need. We have courses, videos, checklists, guidebooks, cheat sheets, how-to guides and more.

You can get started by clicking on the link below. We know that taking care of a loved one is hard work, but with our help you can get the support that you need.

Click here to go to Resource Section now!