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Web sites offer virtual gyms for the brain |
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Written by asap
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Saturday, 09 December 2006 |
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Like biceps or pectorals, your brain needs exercise to stay strong. The question is, are you the type of person who would rather opt for an expensive gym membership or do push-ups and sit-ups in your basement?
Several Web sites are vying for customers who will pay for electronic brain teasers to keep their minds sharp. Think of them as virtual gyms for your neurons and synapses.
And just as a healthy body could help you avoid heart disease, research indicates that mental stimulation increases a person’s resistance to memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease.
Studies have shown that people with advanced degrees, demanding jobs and and even those who engage in mentally challenging hobbies show less decline in memory and reduced risk of Alzheimer’s as they age, said Yaakov Stern, a professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University.
In other words, rigorous mental activity appears to be good for brain health, and, as a result, doctors are starting to reccomend mental calisthenics. But as with heart-disease or cancer prevention methods, nothing is foolproof.
“The idea is to sort of exercise the brain in some way,” Stern said.
The Alzheimer’s Association started a “Maintain Your Brain” campaign two years ago. Their site advises participants to work crossword puzzles, attend lectures or take continuing education courses -- along with eating right and staying active.
Dr. Stephen Scheff, associate director of the Sanders-Brown center on aging at the University of Kentucky, recommends drills as simple as learning to say the alphabet backward.
“If you are mentally active, you have a chance to ward off normal aging effects and Alzheimer’s,” he said. “I’m a big fan of low-impact mental aerobics.”
And just as a healthy body could help you avoid heart disease, research indicates that mental stimulation increases a person’s resistance to memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease.
And just as a healthy body could help you avoid heart disease, research indicates that mental stimulation increases a person’s resistance to memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease.
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LOGGING ON
Reversing your ABCs, working a crossword or Sudoku or engaging in a stimulating conversations are all free or very inexpensive ways to work out your brain. But there are fancier examples of online options:
HAPPY NEURON
www.happy-neuron.com
For $9.95 per month or $99.95 per year, customers can access more than three-dozen Web-based games. In one, users memorize a half-dozen odd shapes and find them, one by one, in groups of similar shapes. In another game, users match individual syllables or fragments of several letters to form complete words. The graphics are pleasing, and the site lets users track their progress.
BRAINBUILDER
www.brainbuilder.com
In one activity, you are asked to memorize sequences of numbers that flash on screen and retype them on a blank screen. In another drill, the user hits the space bar as soon as a shape appears but is penalized for hitting the key after a different shape appears. Subscriptions start at $7.95 per month. This site also lets you track your progress.
MYBRAINTRAINER
www.mybraintrainer.com
This site offers a four-month package for $9.95 that lets you try its dozen or more games — a variety of decision making, shape-recognition and mental agility drills. The no-frills graphics are reminiscent of classic computer games such as Minesweeper.
FREE SITES
www.aarp.org/fun/puzzles/
www.thirdage.com/fun/
Though its selection is more limited than the pay sites, AARP offers trivia, jigsaw, sudoku and other games. And ThirdAge offers some Happy Neuron games for free.
WORTH IT?
So are the pay sites better than sudoku or crossword puzzles? It’s not clear — little if any research has been done on what kind or how much mental stimulation works.
“There is very little evidence that any one selection is better than the other,” said Bill Thies, the vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimers Association.
What’s important is finding a stimulating activity that you enjoy so you’ll stick with it, he said.
The University of Kentucky’s Brown said the sites might offer worthwhile activities -- but not so worthwhile that you should shell out money for them.
“There are so many other ways of doing the same thing that don’t cost you anything. ... I’m not someone who could support paying money to play video games.”
Borrowing the gym metaphor, he mused:
“You can pay a lot of money to have one of these things things build muscles but you could do it a lot of other ways without paying money.” | Only registered users can write comments.
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