Engage everyone with these quick-thinking cognitive workouts!
December marks the senior living season of chock-filled calendars, bringing joy but perhaps a bit of frantic overload to all of us working to make the holidays happy and engaging for our residents. Some holiday traditions may not make our healthiest choice list (egg nog or holiday cookies, anyone?). However, there are many that offer us a great way to engage residents in workouts that support better cognitive performance, with intellectual stimulation, social connection, and opportunities to boost everyone’s spirits.
Here are 3 innovative, brain boosting workouts you can easily fit into the calendar to help make this holiday season more memory-able for all – happy holidays from our TBH team to yours!
Compliments Claus
This no-prep, fast social workout is sure to boost everyone’s spirits, as well as their speedy thinking, nimbleness, and verbal skills.
• Have students break into pairs.
• Have them take 1 minute each complimenting their partner on one thing, such as their smile, their holiday sweater, etc.
• When time is up, have students switch to new partners and repeat the workout.
• Continue until students have all partnered with each other or time is up.
Winter Wonders
Nourish those neurons with this fun, creative group poetry workout – perfect to share with family and the greater community once you are done! Trains attention, speedy thinking, nimbleness, verbal skills, memory, and executive control.
• Write one of the Winter Wonders poetry prompts on a white board or flip chart.
• Have students take turns adding a line, word, or motion to the poem.
• Keep going until your group agrees the poem is completed.
• Have fun reciting your Winter Wonders poem together!
• If time allows, use additional prompts to create more Winter Wonders poems.
Winter Wonders Poetry Prompts
The cardinal, so red against the falling snow …
A path appeared across the snowy field, leading …
The pine-scented boughs lined the …
The holiday lights glimmered across the …
Holiday Ho-Ho-Hos
Offer a bit of respite from the holiday high jinks with a break for some deep breathing and relaxation. Great for boosting perception, attention, coordination and emotional balance.
• Have students sit comfortably, with their feet on the floor and hands resting in their laps. Invite them to close their eyes.
• Invite students to take several deep breaths, slowing the rhythm of their breathing with each breath.
• After a few rounds, invite students to add to their breathing by gently verbalizing “ho-ho-ho” as they exhale.
• Do this for a few minutes together.
• Option to continue with additional verbal prompts as they exhale, such as “he-he-he” and “ha-ha-ha.” You can alternate between the verbal prompts for each exhale round as well.
• Continue for as long as time allows. If desired, check in on how folks feel before and after the deep breathing workout to encourage them to continue using it on their own as a way to de-stress during the holiday season.
For more information on the Total Brain Health programs to support brain wellness with guided, group-based holistic training for older adults, contact us at info@totalbrainhealth.com.
Body Brain Fitness Diet Intellectual Health Lifestyle Memory Loss Mental Health Senior Living Social Engagement Thinking Skills Training
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