Erika,

I generally just do the 10 minutes a day. I will occasionally do a few more games later. During the holidays, I had a house guest for 10 days and only did the games 3 times. When I came back on, I was "introduced" to a whole bunch of new games. Guess they thought I'd become bored. LOL

Thanks, but I've Been with FREE Pogo for 10 years. They have a bunch of fast paced and mind bogglers too. My fav there is Word Whomp. Keeps my mind and vocabulary alive and well. I play the fast paced bogglers. when I need the Exercise..

Free POGO is awesome. Thanks for sharing that Sally.

I think that anything that engages the brain with mental exercises, will have similar effects...even doing things like math in your head with the numbers on automobile licence plates apparently works.
Friends and I used to do that when I was a kid; but I tried it a while ago and was shocked at how anything over 2-step calculations caused my brain to stall out. I was forgetting the result of steps 1 & 2 while working on step 3 .
That's when I decided to do something so as to get the brain in gear before it turned into three bean salad .

There's lots of info with respect to how to go about doing this on the net, along with some specific suggestions and study results on how to re-engage the brain.
I found out that learning a new language or learning to play a musical instument were given high marks for improving brain function in neuroscientific research (Doing so after the age of 50 decreases the potentials for developing Alzheimers Disese); but so were playing these sorts of electroninc/computer games, learning new dance steps or doing things like Tai-Chi.

Overall, it seems that learning to do something that has a progressive learning curve, and practicing it regularly is the common denominator in the research articles.

I also remembered reading a research paper years ago that said combining new information with body movement, improves both physical and mental functions. The technique is gaining popularity in the treatment of Parkinsons Disease, post stroke and MS. This can be as simple as reciting newly learned phrases while walking or doing repetitive exercise.

I started using that technique a couple of weeks ago (walking and using a cross-country ski machine while pronouncing words and phrases) as a means to learn a new language more easily.
It's too early to tell how that will go though, because the brain-body connection, which affects general coordination, along with memory are still quite slow to come around.
I started with the computer games with the hope of improving those things.

Learning a new language and doing computer games has given me a better attitude all round; for I feel like I'm doing something that will be of benefit to the body and brain in the long run.
It does have me feeling a bit like a human Ginea pig though.

Good luck and wishing lots of fun (it actually is fun) to those who give any of these things a try .

With love, Erika

Hmmmmm, perhaps I should dust off the Rosetta Stone Spanish set my daughter no longer uses....

I record jeopardy every day on my DVR and watch it at night when I get home from work. It is good at keeping my mind nimble. I might have to try lumosity though...sounds like it would be good, since I have ADHD and MS.

Computer games aid Stroke Patients...Maybe MS too?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-18109711

With love, Erika

I have a face book game I am enjoying. I love the crime shows like CSI. This game is called Criminal case. You get these crime scenes and have to find these hidden clues. Once you have played one crime scene numerous times your brain kicks in and remembers where they are. Some of the things you find at the crime scenes are clues that you then have to put together to solve the crime. Plus you get a lot of your face book biddies to paly with you and send you 'energy', hints and things like that