Brain in Business

Hi

I am looking for some non-medical help I can pass on to my Dad. He has been diagnosed as having Mild Cognitive Impairment. I have done a bit of reading and it seems that it may help if he actively uses his brain. He is 72, only just stopped doing part time free lance health and safety consultancy work and not really old. I hoping that someone may have done some research and have suggestions of suitable activities I can suggest. Thank you

Hi Helen
This is an interesting request.
I imagine anything your dad does that keeps his brain active will help in that case. I've heard research that bridge is a very good way to keep the brain cells going (and possibly any other card game) and I know there was some research a while ago that ladies who attended bingo tended to suffer less cognitive degeneration than those who didn't. Though your dad my not fancy taking up bingo.

Crosswords and sudoku have also been suggested as keeping the brain going well.

The electronic brain training games have claimed that they improve cognitive ability but I have read that their research may not be as robust as it should be - after all they've got something to sell.
(perhaps the bingo research was sponsorerd by Ladbrokes?)

You said he's just retired from work - is there anything he can continue to do to keep his interest in that going?

Probably anything he can do that isn't watching daytime TV is going to be of some help.

Let us know what else you find out - I'm sure we'd all benefit from knowing how to keep our brains healthy.

Regards,
Stella