I was recently inspired to write this post buy a new member in the chat room. I thought it would be a great post to share our ideas of ways we stretch our brains and keep them active to slow or prevent our brains from declining due to our MS.
Here are some of the daily activities I do to keep my brain stimulated and prevent as much decline in my mental capacity as possible. I do the following:
I play word and puzzle games, such as Scrabble, Wheel of Fortune, I play card games that's require teamwork and strategy, like Spades, I play Angry Birds where I have to figure out different ways to score more points than others, and I simply do things such as brush my teeth with my off hand, tie the bow on my shoes backwards, and anything else I can do to make my brain works in overtime. Now let's sure different ways that we do intentionally or unintentionally to stimulate our mental capacity. I can't wait to hear everyone's ideas and I know I will learn much from each and everyone of you! Fancy.
- I play games - text games, crosswords but also speed or memory games. The downside is that it can be addictive. Mahjong has been on my list lately. Prior it was Sudoku (welcome to MS in real-time, it took me 10 min to find the word).
- I also "try" to learn another language. I find that DuoLinguo on a smartphone is (Free) and very engaging.
- Being already bi-lingual, I find that reading books in both languages keeps agility in my brain
- Writing also helps me practice focus.
- Online classes - there is a lot available for free online. I've taken classes related to my job.
- I'm testing my memory all the time. When I go grocery shopping, can I keep the list in my head? when someone gives me a number or a name, can I remember it?
And I avoid using lists for everything, because I want to make my brain work. I'm not giving it a choice - it has to work at repairing itself.
I play various games on my phone: solitaire, Simon's cat - pop time where you have to figure out how to pop all the bubbles to save the cats. Some are easy and some are VERY difficult. Every once in a while I will play a mahjong game.
I HAVE to make a list or I WILL forget items but I try to remember everything on my list without having to look at it for a reminder.
Hi bxrmom , to avoid having to write lists, I count how many items are on the list. when I go to the grocery store, I do the list mentally and count how many items are on the list. It helps me recall what's actually on the list.
I’ve been doing this even before I was diagnosed! I used to write lists of what I needed from the market, it would get lost in my purse so that’s when I started counting items 😀
I play a game on my phone called bubble witch 3. The game seems to change up once it realizes u figured out how 2 beat a level it starts to not give u the bubbles that u need so u have out think the game. I don't do in app purchases and I don't take advantage of help offered because it doesn't work I also watch a lot of drama, horror, syfy, mystery, and suspense. I can always figure out the ending which drive people crazy. I also setup tech items for my family I never read the instruction because if I do I get confused and I can't figure it out.
My sister just bought the atari flashback 9 game and I set that up and and figured out to play the games for her. I never played these games when I was younger because they weren't made for left handed people at the arcades back in the day. The system doesn't come with instructions.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Jelly Crush!!! ❤👍 The levels start out fair but it gets harder and harder until your figure out how to beat it. I also LOVE READING!!! I love challenging games. I also play Xbox games with my kiddos. ❤ My husband and I play a Golf game together sometimes on the Xbox. I like games that keep my mind wondering and pondering. 👍😊❤🌷
Fancy sweety, great post, I play Free-Cell, word games app. & Bejewled, & i like family fued too oh & uno game app is fun too...I also love to read, can'tquite do w/ out written list yet!💗❤🍁🌻🍄🌸🌷Love Ya!---Jazzy🌹💜
Hi I'm Tam and I'm an anrgy birds addict.😁 sometimes I'll play Tetris too but once the blocks start falling really fast I can't keep up.😔 I've also come across another brain exercise that i found near the back of Time magazine's special edition about the science of memory. I saw it in the grocery magazine rack the other day. You have 6 minutes to list all 50 states of the USA. The first time I tried it I got 46 states in the 6 minute time limit. Took me another 2 minutes to come up with 2 more states that I hadn't listed and had to look up the last 2 states. 4 days and 6 more attempts each day, I was finally able to get all 50 in the 6 minutes with about 15 seconds to spare.😊 I still haven't finished reading the entire magazine yet. I've been heavily highlighting portions of some of the articles. I read just about everything, very little is off limits because I can't stand the topic.
As for lists I only make a grocery list as I notice items that I need. While at the store I only glance at it once I think I've got everything. I check it to make sure I didn't forget something.
I do a lot of online classes and hand write my notes in a notebook. It helps me to remember stuff easier. I also read about a science study a few years before I was diagnosed where they tested to see methods where people remembered items or passages better. If I remember right the options were no notes at all, re-listening to a recording, typing notes, or hand writing notes. Hand writing notes won out by a lot. I've been looking for that story again but can't find it.
One of my favorites is Triominos. Yes that is the name spelled correctly. It is a physical board game. Interacting with people and having fun while stimulating neuroplasticity is a great combination.
Hi Fancy19591, my speech therapist has me play this app called brain yoga. It has different games to choose from like memory games, sets where you have to figure out the patterns. There are a couple more that is included but I can't remember right now but it definitely gets your brain thinking. I also do word puzzles, mahjong, candy crush, and candy land.
Read, teach, brainium free cell app ( like solitaire on steroids), crossword app and scrabble app. Not only do I tell myself the games are good for my brain, but they help me relax and are addictive 😬
Oh my! You have all made me very tired just from reading all these exercises! Think I'll just go take a nap. (Or, maybe I'm too tired from helping my 9 yr. old grandson with homeschooling!)
Otherwise, I do play solitaire, read, scrabble, do crosswords and knit. I recently found that my old hobby of sewing has grown easier since I have made several garments. Refreshing old skills has improved my brain speed. Anything we do actively keeps the brain from just vegetating!
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Ok we don't give our other halves enough credit. 
