The kids are gone, the empty nest is calm, and those endless days of playing games have faded into the background. But, damn…that can be a RUT just waiting to happen.
Along with brain fog. It’ll roll into our brains that still crave something beyond daily routines.
But should empty nesters play games even after the kids go away? Hell yeah. Why not?
Enter in the dust-covered Scrabble game. Ours hadn’t seen daylight for YEARS. We even had to read the rules. Thank goodness, our memory banks didn’t fail us, it all sort of came back to us fairly easily.
Agreeing on the dictionary of choice was our biggest obstacle.
Do you remember when there wasn’t the Internet? Back when a big ol’ fat dictionary was needed to look up the spelling of words?
Back when Scrabble was SO hard because the silly old rules were followed to a ‘T’? What a DUD following the rules can be.
Well, let me tell ya…that was probably back when my grandparents had an empty nest. Before that, all they did for fun was fool around, and ended up with trying to prevent a lot of kids that would occupy their time and challenge their brains? I know how to make shit words up…it’s called creative writing.
Well, that’s nothing like OUR empty nest now. We’re not preggo, thank GOD. And we’re not so much into following the rules. The kiddos aren’t watching us behave anymore. So, we tossed some of the duds of rules out because then we could use all the tiles by the end of the game.
Duh?!
But we do like to use some common words like our grandparents used. Like PRUNES. Yeah…I’m pretty sure my grandparents munched on Prunes (or at least Prune Juice, we’ve been known to have a bottle in the fridge – doesn’t every empty nest?).
Prunes are a potent antioxidant with ORAC Units per 3 1/2 ounce = 8,100!
Nutritional Scientists use the Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity score which provides a general indication of how effective a particular food is at protecting brain cells from damaging bombardment of free radicals. Most people eat only about 1,000 ORAC units per day…some experts recommend a daily dose closer to 3,500 units for optimal brain protection.
Back in the olden days, it was thought that senility (aka, dementia) was just a normal part of aging. They had no idea how good prunes really were for their brains.
Nowadays, for some empty nests, (like me and Mr. because I tell him we need to do so) ounces of prevention are prevalent in every day living. Because, we know the odds are we’re going to live a long time – with sound mind and bodies, God willing. We need to take action to save our brains. And, we do want to recognize each other as we age, too.
So, yeah, prunes help, but what about games, don’t they do more to protect our brains?
Well…yes, and no.
We can alter brain neural mental efficiency by playing brain games. The long-term studies have found an association between spending more time doing puzzles or reading and a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s. But, absolute proof of a cause-and-effect relationship has not been completed.
We can drink alcohol in moderation.
Some experts suggest that light alcohol consumption lowers the risk for Alzheimer’s because of lifestyle factors. People who drink in moderation may deal with most aspects of their lives in moderation, and that personality style might protect their brains from chronic stress.
So yeah, Cheers! to a glass of wine with dinner. Or green tea, both appear to be good choices to find classy ways to age gracefully with our brains intact.
Back to the games…the important thing about games is that our brains desire variety, so diversify the games and activities to keep your brain engaged and happy.
We’ve played Scrabble three nights in a row. Because EVERY game is different, we’re getting a variety of wordplay action for our brains.
And it’s a test of our ability to stretch the rules and make words up that, lo and behold, Mr. can find on the internet using a Google search when he doubts my effort to slip a word in sideways.
Mr. is a gifted Wordsmith in my opinion, but, not to brag TOO much this week, I’ve pulled some words right out of the corner recesses of my brain that made him grab his phone and search Google and say, “Okay, it’s a word…you can use it.”
As we age, it’s important to work both hemispheres of our brains. And, our neural circuitry fires faster and our frontal lobes work better as we age. Nice, eh?! We’re able to grasp the big picture and solve complex problems more rapidly as we age. Take that, you TEENS.
Mr. has agreed that using Google as our dictionary is less restricting than the rules of the game. In the big picture, it’s more fun to use all the tiles.
And then…we get to play by putting all the tiles back into the little gray storage bag.
Me: “It’s really fun and faster when someone folds the board to create a slide for the tiles.”
Mr: “Is that a hint?”
Me: “Um…duh…didn’t I look pathetic in my method? Thanks for catching on so quickly. The brain games are working!”
Playful games are a good thing for our brains.
Choose those that involve hand-eye coordination, are social with two – or more people who keep you engaged in the game, alternate the hemispheres you use between the right and the left and back again because our brain likes variety, and balance off-line with online games to optimize the cognitive results you get.
Plus all efforts to play as we age in our empty nest keeps the boredom RUT at bay. Especially going into a long, cold, winter…games are another way to heat things up!
Post inspiration – Empty Nest Games and quotes contributed to Gary Small, M.D. and Gigi Vorgan authors of The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program – Keep Your Brain Healthy for the Rest of Your Life.
PS – Do you enjoy playing Scrabble? What other board games do you play?
Love Scrabble. And we play a lot of Monopoly, though it spans days. One of my little guys loves strategy games, like chess; I’m thinking of trying Risk for him for Christmas. Fun post!
Thanks for sharing, Rebecca. I think I still have a Monopoly game…maybe we should try that again, to see if we get a better life now that we understand the game of it better?! 😉 I’ve heard Risk is fun – my daughters have played it. Hope your son likes it. It is so wonderful that your family plays games so often. Enjoy every moment!
I’m a huge board game person and I have a group of board game friends. My kids love to play as well. I just bought a new super fun and quick one called Crazy Cat Lady, and its great for two people ~ only around $15. Highly recommend! Anyway, I do think games are a good thing for couples to do, but friendly not cutthroat. I wouldn’t want a man who plays seriously. It should be fun and silly imo. I do like Scrabble and word games, trivia, cards, strategy ~ one of my faves is Ticket to Ride. I do not like the Cards Against Humanity type games. I just don’t find the naughty combos interesting since I’m 57 not 17, lol. Boring!
Funny about the prune juice, so icky. I’d rather just take a pill.
That sounds so fun – the group of board game friends (socialness is great for the brain too!) and that Crazy Cat Lady game – THANK you for suggesting it, I need to pick that up. My adulting daughters would love it too. I so appreciate your suggestions – I’ll have to check out Ticket to Ride too. We’ve played Cards Against Humanity with Mr.’s parents and we were entertained at Grandma’s side we rarely see… LOL – the Prune juice grows on ya if you imagine it as a Date Filled Cookie?! PS – your blog post about other blogs hit a cord with me, I’m still thinking about it!
Yes, you can play Cat Lady with 3 or 4. There’s a quickie New York version of TTR. The normal ones can take over an hour!
Thank you for the tips!!
I do enjoy playing Scrabble. One of my favorite board games is Balderdash, in which players take turns presenting a list of real words with their own made-up words included then try to guess which words are made up. I always win that game! We’re trying to get more into board games at home rather than vegging out in front of the t.v. all weekend. Do you have any suggestions for any good modern board games?
I could see you being a whiz at Scrabble and Balderdash. I haven’t played that one in a long time. I think we still have it? When our kids were about your kids’ ages, we did that too, it was a fun way to have family time instead of TV time. I’m really out of the loop on games, but Paula who commented on this post suggested Crazy Cat Lady. I ordered it, and can’t wait to see if it is fun. I’ve also heard Risk is fun. Enjoy the challenge of finding a fun game for the family.
I ordered Castle Panic & Spy Alley this year, we’ll have to see how they play.
Scrabble is even fun on the internet. I also like the magazines of word searches. I have luminosity on my email and they send me new games to help the gray matter move.
But I fully get the brain fog/preggo brain – I call them gray moments, like looking everywhere for my glasses when they are pushed up on top of my head. Yea, its where we are.
Great post. Good chuckle and good advice wrapped together.
All of those games sound great and fun for your brain. LOL – if I didn’t need to see with my glasses, I’d lose them too. Thanks for your words of encouragement!!
Love the idea of playing Scrabble with hubby. We would probably be about evenly matched. Better than sitting around watching TV! Now if I could just convince him…
Thanks! I just put the game board on the table and after dinner, the Mr. said, “So, is that a hint that we’re going to play Scrabble.” That technique doesn’t always work, but it did this time! 😉
We use a dictionary. Another great game like Scrabble is Upwords. You can build up by putting a tile to change a word. Is lass is played you can make a word starting with B and make lass bass. We also do quizzes that are in the newspaper and play other games like Dominoes. Keep up the ideas Shelley 😀
Thank you for the suggestions – we don’t have Upwords, but that does sound fun! You know me, always waiting for something to pop in my comments for ideas to follow ;-).
Could be a Christmas present request 😊
Love Scrabble and the Scrabble game is still downstairs in the cupboard. You brought back memories seeing the board – another clever post Shelley.
Thank you, Linda!
You’re welcome Shelley – Scrabble is good for keeping your brain active and it is 70 years old today.
WOW – I didn’t know it was Scrabble’s birthday!! You’re so full of information, I love that about you!
Thank you! Every morning I hear a rundown of dates in history, some historical, some fun … I just heard that either yesterday or today, think it was yesterday.
[I may have back arrowed by mistake — I forget when I am in your posts to just click and “x” out. Hopefully this is not a duplicate.] I love Scrabble and we used to play it a lot when I was growing up. The burgundy box is still in the cupboard downstairs. Another clever post Shelley.