Last Updated on April 13, 2023 by Mike Robinson

Our brain is not a rigid structure; on the contrary, it is elastic and malleable, and this fact reinforces cognitive stimulation. Do you lack mental agility, suffer from memory loss, or have trouble focusing for long periods of time?

Sport, exercise, and physical effort can all work different muscles in our bodies. Well, what we now refer to as cognitive stimulation actually works the brain.

Our intellects also age like the rest of our bodies. Brain atrophy, neuronal death, and neurotransmitter production all continue to worsen as we age.

The human brain can be exercised to improve its cognitive abilities, just like any other muscle in our deconstruction.

Read this article to find out what cognitive stimulation is, why it’s helpful, and how you can put it to use right now.

What is it?

Cognitive stimulation refers to methods and strategies for optimizing the effectiveness of the brain’s performance through the various cognitive capacities that a mortal being possesses.

Thus, the term “cognitive stimulation” refers to methods and approaches that are intended to maximize the efficiency of brain function by utilizing the various cognitive skills that humans possess. These skills include: 

• Perception.
• Attention.
• Reasoning.
• Abstraction.
• Memory .
• Language.
• Orientation Processes.
• Praxis.

All these cognitive functions we perform and train mortal beings in virtually daily. When we read a book, we work on our language and memory; when we drive through an unknown road; when we attend to our master’s work instructions; etc.

Still, it could be that we worked a lot of cognitive functions, but at the same time others were left behind… Well, this is exactly what cognitive stimulation aims to do: ensure the integral work of all our cognitive functions.

However, it’s possible that while we worked hard on some cognitive processes, others were neglected. Indeed, this is what cognitive stimulation seeks to achieve: to make sure that every aspect of our cognitive processes is functioning properly.

Who can benefit from cognitive stimulation?

The solution is quite straightforward. Since we can all benefit from honing our mental faculties, cognitive stimulation is applicable to everyone. The primary goals of cognitive stimulation are: 

1. Boost the maturation of one’s mind.
2. Improve and optimize the operation of these capabilities.

Early intervention programs for children, sports attention or concentration training, the development of professional skills for various jobs, etc. are typical examples of this type of intervention.

Cognitive stimulation benefits your cognitive functions, your brain, and you, so you don’t need to be in any of these situations for it to work!

That is to say, when you perform cognitive work, you activate, stimulate, and train different cognitive capacities and their components in a systematic way with the aim of transforming them into a skill.

Since cognitive stimulation benefits everyone, we must describe its therapeutic role.

And that cognitive impairment, cognitive deficit, or dementia are what we are referring to when we discuss the therapeutic benefits of cognitive stimulation.

What if my mind is still sharp?

Even if you have little or no cognitive deficits, cognitive stimulation can help you become more capable and delay brain aging. But whether you say “yes” or “no,” cognitive stimulation should become a regular part of your life if you feel depressed and show any signs of decline.

Today, cognitive stimulation is the first-choice treatment for cognitive impairment and the various types of dementia, of which the most common is Alzheimer’s.

These pathologies are now irreversible and incurable, but this does not mean that the evolution of the disease can not be slowed down.

This is where mental exercise comes in. When we do not have any pathology, it is advantageous to improve our skills; however, when we do have some cognitive deficit, it is crucial to protect the skills we still possess.

Because of this, experts believe that performing cognitive stimulation is necessary for the treatment of dementia and cognitive decline, despite the fact that there are currently some drugs for cognitive enhancement, such as inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (tacrine, donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine).

Benefits of cognitive stimulation

So, let’s see what the benefits of cognitive stimulation are.

 The benefits of cognitive stimulation are split into two categories: 

• Those for people without cognitive impairment, whether they are children, adolescents, adults, or the elderly.
• Those for people with dementia or other forms of cognitive deficit.

If you do not have any cognitive deficits, cognitive stimulation will be very useful for you.

Improve your neuronal plasticity:

Since the human brain is flexible and moldable, stimulating it frequently will make it more elastic and prevent brain stiffness.

Increase your brain’s functioning:

Your neurotransmitters will work more efficiently if you stimulate your brain. Each psycho-stimulation technique will have a specific effect on a different part of your brain. This is because each cognitive function is carried out by a specific brain region and a collection of unique neurotransmitters.

Increase your potential:

you will become more skilled the more you work. Each innate ability or skill in the brain can be developed. The more you put in, the better your skills will be, and the less you put in, the worse your skills will be.

Prevent the progress of cognitive deficits:

The human brain ages, just like the rest of the body. You can keep it in better shape if you exercise and stimulate it. Cognitive stimulation will be crucial for you if you have a cognitive deficit or dementia syndrome.

Improve your neuronal plasticity:

The brain is severely affected by dementia diseases like Alzheimer’s, which also cause a rapid rise in neuronal death. However, that does not mean that your brain is no longer plastic. Your brain still has plasticity, albeit less. Your brain will produce more neurons if you stimulate it, and you can continue to produce neurons even though the disease is destroying them.

Maintain the cognitive functions you preserve:

Cognitive impairment causes a gradual decline in function. However, if you begin receiving cognitive stimulation, you will be able to maintain the abilities that you still possess.

Delaying the evolution of the disease:

The majority of dementia syndromes develop gradually and are uncurable. The disease will be more difficult to spread if you engage in cognitive stimulation, and your brain will remain functional for a longer period of time.

Improve your quality of life:

The more cognitive stimulation you receive, the less you will age, the more your cognitive abilities and functionality will be preserved, and the better your quality of life will be.

10 activities for cognitive stimulation:

I’ll suggest 10 different exercises to help you with this. These workouts frequently follow what are referred to as global psychostimulation programs. This program includes:

• Reminiscence therapy
• Reality-oriented therapy
• There are eight exercises to strengthen the various cognitive processes, which include 
  • executive functions
  • language, memory
  • praxis, gnosis, and orientation.

The exercises will be more difficult or easier depending on the functionality (or deterioration) of the person to whom the stimulation is applied. 

The suggested exercises, for instance, would be modified for a person experiencing the early stages of dementia.

Reality-oriented Therapy

This therapy is performed with small groups of patients for 30 to 60 minutes. The sessions use a cognitive approach. They usually start with a discussion of time and space and then talk about things that happened in the patients’ immediate surroundings. 

The classic guidance board is used as a tool for work. It usually shows things like the day, the date, the season, the name of the place, and other things. The goal of this therapy is to keep the patient in touch with reality while also working on different cognitive skills, such as attention, concentration, orientation, and memory.

Reminiscence Therapy

It is the process of using a story to bring back memories from a long time ago. It is when the person tells stories that they remember them. 

Information that has been stored throughout life is kept in remote memory files. So, even though the patient has some kind of memory loss, this therapy helps them keep their memories for a long time and not forget the most important things that have happened in their lives. 

So, reminiscing is a way to think about and remember things from the past. With this method, people look at the past from the point of view of the present, which lets them do three different things: remember, evaluate, and put together.

Attention activity

A typical exercise to work the attention is the typical “soup of letters” activity. This exercise helps a person improve their ability to pay attention as well as their ability to focus.

• Find and paint the vowels and the letter S.
• Find and paint the letter S and the number 6.
• Find and paint the number 2.

Mathematical activity

Mathematical operation is one of the most common and widely used activities. The difficulty level should match the person’s cognitive ability. 

Example: Continue the numerical series:

• 4, 8, 12 …………………………………………….
• 22-28-34 ………………………………………… ..
• 28-26-24 ………………………………………… ..

Activity to improve executive functions:

Executive functions enable us to plan our activities. Thus, planning daily activities is a beneficial exercise.

Sort the following sentences in logical order:

Wait for the oil to warm up. 1- …………………………………

Light the fire. 2- …………………………………

Put oil in the pan. 3- …………………………………

Put the egg in the pan. 4- ………………………………….

Language Activity

. Anomie is the main sign of a problem with language. Anomia is when we have trouble remembering the names of things, which makes it hard to talk and express ourselves. A good way to improve this skill would be to have the child name a number of objects by category. In this way, language and memory work at the same time.

Write the names of eight people:

• Professions.
• Sports.
• Political presidents.

Memory Activity

Different types of memory (working memory, short-term memory, long-term memory, etc.) can be trained in a variety of ways.

Please indicate with an arrow where each of the following dishes originated.

• Sushi
• Enchiladas
• Pizza

Activities for praxis

The skill that enables us to move with purpose is called praxis. In order to effectively stimulate this cognitive function, various objects can be drawn, including:

Draw the following objects:

• A hand.
• A house.
• A fish.

Cognitive stimulation: Gnosis

The capacity for recognition of previously encountered stimuli is known as gnosis. Being able to locate various regions on a map is a practice exercise for this ability.

 Guidance Activity

To keep the person’s orientation, it’s best to ask and/or remind them of the different things that help them keep their spatial orientation. This includes:

• where they are (what street, what neighborhood, etc.).
• their personal orientation (what their name is, when they were born, what they call their kids, etc.).
• their temporary orientation (what day it is today, what month, what week, etc.).

Also read: Asthenia: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, we should all make it a point to take care of our brains, and cognitive stimulation is a more than effective way to improve our mental abilities.