The "Exercising the Brain" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with Jack S. as we sat eating lunch with my mom at Moravian Manor in Lititz, PA.  We knew Jack and his wife, Jackie, from church and as he told us about his wife he teared up.  Jackie has been in the Skilled Care unit for the last couple of weeks after her Alzheimers became too much for Jack to handle.  Alzheimers is the most common form of dementia and has no cure.  As it progresses it worsens and eventually will lead to death.  The disease is diagnosed in people over 65 although early-onset Alzheimers can occur much earlier.  It affects 1 in every 85 people around the world.  Some of the early symptoms are just taken for granted, since they are thought to be age-related or things that just happen as we get older.  Not being able to remember recent events is an early symptom, but don't most people tend to forget events?  It can be diagnosed by the use of a brain scan.  There seems to be no cause for the disease, but is associated with plaques and tangles in the brain.  There currently are no treatments that can stop or reverse the progression of the disease.  Mental stimulation, exercise and a balanced diet are said to help arrest the onset of the disease.  Do you read the newspaper regularly, play games, do cross-word puzzles, read books, try to see the differences in two photos were one has been altered, and ……. well you get the idea that you need to keep your brain active.  My neighbor, who tends to send me emails every day that feature jokes, funny stories, and the like, actually sent me a mental stimulation test today that says it is an anti-Alzheimer's exercise.  So, I took it.  Easy to do ….. all you have to do is find faces in drawings that are given to you.  Following are the drawings so you can also try the exercise.  I was able to find the faces in each picture, but if you can't find them, don't feel as if you're doomed.  Some people study the pictures too hard and get fustrated.  Me, well I just scanned them a few times and got farthur away from my computer and shortly after, the faces popped out at me.  These types of excercises are definitely good for your brain.  But doing them just this one time is not enough.  Continue to read and do the other items I mentioned above.  You notice that sitting hour after hour watching TV isn't on the list.  Good luck on the puzzles.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Can you see the baby in this picture?

Can you see the kissing couple?

Can you see the three women?

There's a face in here.  Can you find it?

There are 10 faces in this tree.  Can you find them?

Well, how'd you do?  Could you at least see some of the faces?  Now when I look at the drawings I immediately see the faces as if they etched in my brain.