I recently read an article (https://themahjong.com/blog/who-solves-puzzles-a-study-of-the-online-puzzle-game-audience) about the fact that a lot of elderly people play mood games. I was wondering if you've noticed this? Do games really help fight alzheimer's?
Playing card games or leaning new card games where you interact with people is another suggestion.
Fitness and activity are important to maintaining brain function.
Healthy diet is also key (low to no sugars, less alcohol etc)
I was told that what is good is exercising both sides of the brain. If righthanded, try to use your left hand. Like when brushing your teeth, change hands. Doing the same thing over and over does not challenge the brain, learning new things does.
IMO ALZ is hereditary. It runs on my Dads side. Ome of the others are caused by lifestyle.
Games are often very good at diverting the person's attention away from a dementia-loop (if they're in one) and are repeating incessantly or compusively obsessing over nothing. Games also help to keep the person with dementia occupied. When they have something to do this cuts back on the anxiety and panicking over nothing. If a person with dementia isn't all worked up and freaking out, it's easier for everyone including them, to get their care done.
A person with Alzheimer's/dementia (depending on how far gone they are) is usually like having a very unpleasant, adult-sized toddler. When the child/toddler is having a tantrum and you give them something that captures their attention like a toy or a game, this often puts the brakes on the tantrum because they're more interested in what you're giving them then they are at carrying on.
Games and puzzles are a good distraction. They don't fight anything except boredom.
Since medical science doesn't even know for sure what causes some types of dementias there is thus no way to know what will stave it off. It is very difficult to do clinical studies since there's no way to know if a person's dementia would have occurred at that point in time or whether it was the result of game playing. Plus the longer one's journey into dementia, the less fruitful their participation since their abilities to know and express what is going on in their minds is becoming cloudier.
That being said I think keeping the mind active and learning new and challenging things is still good and beneficial, even from a mental health standpoint, since depression is a problem that comes with age-related decline.
But if your a senior and play new games and keep learning new things and keep your brain active it can help prevent dementia. It may help progression of early dementia, and could help, but that just my thoughts.
But if your playing the same circle a word over and over, that you have played for years, I suspect no.
Games and other activities can keep a person with dementia occupied and in turn it keeps them calm.
They don't prevent dementia and they don't treat it.
I'm not sure if a stimulus prompt like old music/songs helps fight the progression of the disease, but they can be pretty powerful regardless. See Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory [2014] Documentary. It's on YouTube.
So no, games will not help. Mahjong can't repair the changes in the brain. Working puzzles will not repair the changes. Such ideas are what the family of the afflicted HOPES will restore their loved ones to who they were before dementia. HOPE is a wonderful thing, but so far, it's pointless to HOPE that there's a cure out there somewhere. Nothing cures dementia.
I've been caregiver for four family members, all of whom had various types of dementia. Trying games and puzzles only brought on confusion, refusal, sometimes laughing (because they don't know what it is or what to say), and incomprehensible comments.
I've found more mental engagement in my family members with old TV reruns like Bonanza, Flipper, Little House on the Prairie and Elvis movies. Seriously.
As you can imagine it would be difficult to imagine how to measure a patient ongoing. If there is no lack of progress is that because they didn't do games? If there is better progress is that due to games? Or not. How could such a thing be realistically measured.
I can tell you one place that games CAN help us and that is in long covid where the brain is effected in a way that is a sort of fog of confusing and an inability to focus. They are finding that games are helping people to relearn focus. Interesting!