Go Play in the Parks to Keep Your Brain Fit, City Tells Its Eldery

The government of Bilbao, Spain has installed cognitive games for the elderly in public parks designed to boost mental performance and memory span while building social connections to fight loneliness.

“By creating spaces where people can do not just physical but also cognitive exercises, we’re also making people interact with each other,” says Fran Vinez, Director of Public Works and Services in the city.

Spain is expected to take over Japan’s position as the world’s longest-living population by 2040, and the Global Coalition on Aging estimates that there will be over two billion people over the age of 60 by 2050.

The older a person is, the more likely they will be diagnosed with dementia, drastically affecting the current annual global costs of $818 billion as the population increases. Brain-training games and gentle exercise can fight the disease by improving cognition, physical strength, confidence and independence, and combatting loneliness.