7 Cognitive Stimulation Exercises for Older Adults

We propose 7 cognitive stimulation exercises for older adults designed by neuropsychologists and occupational therapists to strengthen functional autonomy and slow cognitive decline in elderly people.

There is increasing evidence supporting the benefits of cognitive stimulation for older adults. Not only for people with Alzheimer’s, but also for older adults with normal aging.

Brain aging is a natural life process. However, such degeneration is not only centered on biological factors, since this decline also depends on environmental factors, such as the social and family sphere, but especially on the level of stimulation received from these areas.

That is why, at NeuronUP we design cognitive stimulation activities to strengthen users’ functional autonomy as well as to slow cognitive decline in people affected by neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.

7 cognitive stimulation exercises for older adults

1. Straighten Up the Kitchen

What does it involve?

In this exercise users have to place the kitchen objects in their corresponding spot.

What does this activity target?

It targets reasoning as the main function, and, secondarily, the kitchen and cleaning, sustained attention, semantic memory, episodic memory and reasoning.

Levels

There are six phases. In the easier levels there are more indications from the program to correctly perform the activity, while in the more difficult levels the cues are reduced.

Activity personalization

In addition, you can personalize the activity to adapt it to each user’s abilities.

Parameters

And, on the other hand, the parameters, where you can select the number of elements, the type and amount of prompts you want the user to receive and the errors that can be made.

General aspects

You can adjust, on one hand, general aspects such as the number of exercises, maximum time, whether or not you want a visible timer for the activity, modify the execution instructions, etc.

2. Word Association

What does it involve?

This NeuronUP cognitive stimulation exercise for older adults consists of pairing words that are related to each other.

Levels

It also consists of five levels of difficulty, from a basic level to an advanced level, passing through easy, medium and hard. This way you can choose the one that best suits the users’ abilities. Below, we show an example of an easy level:

What does this activity train?

This exercise trains reasoning.

Format

This worksheet is available both in digital format and in paper format.

3. Sorting Bugs

The third of the cognitive stimulation exercises for older adults that we propose is Sorting Bugs. This game consists of reorganizing the moving insects so that each type is on its corresponding side: let beetles pass to one side and keep ladybugs on the other side. In this way, attention must be continuously focused on the movements of the insects as they approach the wall, to move the door up or down.

Levels

There are 9 difficulty phases. From a very simple phase with only one beetle and only one ladybug that move very slowly to a ninth phase with 12 beetles and 12 ladybugs that never stop moving from one side to the other.

Activity personalization

Parameters

You can choose the number of beetles and ladybugs you want, how many are placed incorrectly at the beginning and their movement speed.

General aspects

And, as in all games, you can adjust the number of exercises, maximum time, whether or not you want a visible timer for the activity, modify the execution instructions, etc.

What does this activity work on?

• Planning,
• selective attention,
• sustained attention,
• hemispatial neglect,
• processing speed.

4. Word Scramble

What does it involve?

This activity consists of ordering the letters that appear to form a word. We show you an example in the following video:

Personalization

For example, if you are working with a person who has grandchildren, you can use the names of their grandchildren, as shown in the following image. The familiarity of the names helps them focus more on the objectives of the exercise.

What does this activity train?

• Vocabulary,
• working memory

Format

Additionally, this worksheet is available both in digital format and in paper format.

5. Select items from a category

What does it involve?

It consists of selecting a set of specific items from a group of stimuli. For example, in the following sheet you must select all the tools:

Levels

It also consists of five levels of difficulty, from a basic level to an advanced level, passing through easy, medium and hard.

What does this activity work on?

• Selective attention,
• semantic memory.

Bibliography

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