Brain Exercises
Participating in memory and thinking exercises that are challenging and fun can boost your brain health. Completing 15 minutes of cognitive exercises 5 times a week can have a positive effect on your overall cognition and your ability to perform daily activities such as managing medications, taking care of your finances, and living independently.
Below you will find a link to download and print a sample packet of scientifically-validated cognitive exercises that you can complete on your own, or with a family member or caregiver. Completing some or all of these exercises as part of a home “workout routine” will put you on the path to maintaining your overall cognitive health and wellness and will help you to minimize the risk of dementia and other forms of cognitive decline.
Sample Cognitive Home Exercise Packet
If you would like to record the exercises you have completed, record your daily utilization on this Cognitive Exercise Record Form.
With practice, you may find you can complete the exercises faster. You may also notice improvements in remembering names of people or places or it may be easier to concentrate while you complete daily tasks such as reading or watching TV. Keep in mind, the goal of participating in cognitive exercises is to improve brain health, not necessarily to get the correct answer on every exercise.
What else can you do to keep your mind sharp?
- Learn about more ways to live a brain healthy lifestyle, by visiting the ENRICH® Calculator on the ENRICH® Brain Health Program site.
- Check out the Brain Health Workout Kit, a combination of two cognitive workbooks that offer additional memory and attention exercises.
- If you feel you may benefit from further assessment, consider signing up for a BCAT® Virtual Visit. The BCAT® Virtual Visit utilizes the foundational BCAT® instrument, which is a scientifically validated tool that assesses cognitive performance. It can identify if a person has general and specific cognitive deficits. This 30-minute visit provides information about current memory, executive, and attentional skills, and other cognitive abilities. Sign up here.
The BCAT® WMEB – Home Edition
This workbook can be used as part of a cognitive workout routine. It contains scientifically-validated cognitive exercises that target attention, memory, and executive functioning skills. Clinicians can prescribe assignments from this workbook to target specific activities that will improve cognition while maintaining brain health and lowering the risk for dementia.
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The BrainSharp™ Exercise Book
This book contains additional cognitive activities including simple and complex mazes, word scrambles, and word searches. Clinicians can assign additional exercises from this book to improve cognitive performance and everyday functioning.
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The MemPics® Book Series
MemPics® books activate old memories through pictures and conversations about familiar people, places, objects, and events. Clinicians prescribe MemPics® books to offer persons with memory loss a variety of cognitively enhancing activities that provide opportunities for meaningful engagement with family members or caregivers. There are 13 different topics available.
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Digital Working Memory Exercises
The Digital Working Memory Exercise Platform contains a variety of interactive, online cognitive exercises that can be completed on any device. This evidence-based program offers hundreds of combinations of both basic and complex cognitive exercises that can be used to promote positive cognitive functioning while buffering against decline.
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