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Do games have benefits for seniors?

Let the Good times and Good Games Roll This Holiday Season!

GrandPad wants families nationwide - young to young-in-spirit - to experience the joy of play during the holidays and beyond. Why should play be valued as essential in life and not just as an extra? No matter your ability or mobility, playing and gaming brings about smiles, socialization, and stress relief. It also benefits the body and mind.

Empirical research shows that when the brain is engaged with card games, the dorsolateral cortex is stimulated and boosts the immune system. Moreover, playing cards is good for cognitive stimulation since challenging card games - such as bridge, canasta, and pinochle - can stimulate the brain and help fight memory loss. Happy times = Healthy times!

If you're not into cards, how about computer games? Renae L. Smith-Ray, a scientist at the Center for Research on Health and Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago, published a study in the The Journals of Gerontology that proved that elderly adults who tried special brain training computer games had better gait and balance afterward than their peers who didn’t play games.

And if you've got energy for physical play, why not try a senior sports league? There are an endless assortment of senior sports leagues, ranging from the National Senior Games Association to Senior Softball to Wii bowling.

Also recommended is the AARP Technology Education Center. AARP recently featured GrandPad in their Gift Guide 2017: What to Buy for Hard-to-Shop-for People and their technology center is a great place for online learning for older adults with video resources and education materials.

Knowing at first-design that gaming can help reduce stress hormones and encourage feelings of confidence and relaxation, we made games easily accessible at just one-touch on GrandPad. For example, we included Sudoku and "upgraded it" so that if you fill a square with the number a “ding!” will sound, and the other squares with the same number will turn blue. If another identical number exists in the same row, column, or square it will be easy to spot. We even made sure that when you play our crossword game, the boxes will turn green once you fill a row or column with the correct word. This will prevent you from building off of wrong words and causing your puzzle to become unsolvable.

And, since our GrandPad team certainly values family, friends, and caretakers...don't forget to include them in on your fun! It's easy to do with the GrandPad's games app. Playing cards will your loved one offers an opportunity to make friends and socialize, helping to avoid feelings of isolation and loneliness.

We're rolling the dice that 2018 will be a GRAND year! Let the games begin.