Many an alzheimer's study has found that playing association games, as well as other brain games, results in overall resistance to Alzheimer's Disease. Our previous blog about New Findings for Alzheimer's Disease introduced two such studies that observed the healing effects of games. Here are a few more Alzheimer's Studies that arrived at similar conclusions.
Research on Gaming and Alzheimer's Disease
(Feel free to click on any of the below links, they will open in a new window)
- Alzheimer's: Prevention, Treatment, and Slowing Down
Not so much a study as more a listing of commonly arrived at conclusions, HelpGuide.com provides overall tips for treating Alzheimer's Disease. In their guide's mental health section, they offer that keeping one's mind exercised is an important part in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. They specifically mentioned that playing association games and general brain games benefits Alzheimer's patients. In their words,...Play memory games to improve or train your memory...Do crossword puzzles, sudoku, jigsaw puzzles...Play board games, card games, other strategy games...
- Use It Or Lose It? Study Suggests Mentally Stimulating Activities May Reduce Alzheimer's Risk
A surprisingly early article (published in early 2002) found that video games as cognitively stimulating activities help treat Alzheimer's Disease. This article is one of our favorites since it uses simple language to walkthrough what the experiment procedure was, as well as how they drew their conclusions from their data. Definitely a recommended read if you are searching for supporting arguments for alternate treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. The article mentioned that the research subjects have volunteered their brains for post mortem study. We found this exciting since it may give scientists insight on why games are helping treat Alzheimer's Disease. Our favorite quote:On average, compared with someone with the lowest activity level, the risk of disease was reduced by 47 percent among those whose frequency of activity was highest.
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Brain Games and Alzheimer's Study
Something we noticed is that a lot of people have referred to or directly quoted from work done by the Fundacio ACE, Institut Catala de Neurociencies Aplicades in Barcelona, Spain, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, which was published in the October issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. While this is a good sign regarding the trust people have in this study, it also unfortunately makes for a lot of duplicated information! How brain games and association games can help treatment of Alzheimer's Disease is still unclear. Still, the Pittsburgh Alzheimer's Study, among others, has noticed a link between people that play association games and how well their system fights Alzheimer's Disease.
