Have you noticed that as you are growing old, you are becoming more forgetful? It might all start with something as simple as forgetting where you last kept your watch or to pick something from the grocery to something as big as forgetting your close friend’s birthday. Scary, right? Although you can’t pause your aging, you can always choose to age with grace. Always train your brain to be active. How do we do so? How to improve your memory?

You will be surprised to find that an easy way of avoiding forgetfulness is by playing brain games. There are mind games available online and on board that will help you sharpen both your long- and short-term memory.

Here is a list of top five games that will help you improve your memory:

• Solve your daily crossword

You might want to consider solving crossword puzzles you see in your kid’s book or online. It is believed that crosswords are a great way of training your cognitive mind and keeping it active. People who regularly indulge in a good crossword or two are likely to have a delayed case of dementia and forgetfulness.

Remember to switch on to some other mind-boosting game when you feel that the crosswords no longer challenge your brain.

• Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles are great for short-term memory.

Studies tell that when you are solving jigsaw puzzle games, your body produces dopamine, which helps in increasing your concentration. Jigsaw puzzle solving requires the use of both your left and right brain, and it tremendously boosts your visuospatial skills.

• I Packed My Suitcase Game

Don’t have time for crosswords and puzzles but still wish to improve your memory? No worries, you can play this game. The best thing about I Packed My Suitcase is that you can play this game anywhere and you just need a partner to get started.

The basic gameplay starts with a player saying that he/she has packed a suitcase with a thing. The next player then must repeat the sentence and add his/her item to the briefcase, and the game goes on. You must remember all the former things of the suitcase each time and then add a new item.

To make it more interesting, you can follow the alphabetic sequence when adding items to the suitcase.

• Rebus Puzzle

A rebus puzzle is all about using your presence of mind to crack the clues that are in the form of symbols, letters, pictures, and words.

For this game, you need to be well versed with the common idioms, phrases, and expressions as that would help you guess the answers correctly.

• The Tray Game

The Tray Game is perfect for house parties and sleepover. Although this game is designed for kids who are bored playing with their regular toys, even adults can make it a bit challenging and play. In this game, you keep a tray with 20-25 items in it, in the middle of the room. All the players get a quick glance at the items in the tray and the tray is then covered with a tablecloth. The players are given a notepad and pencil, and are supposed to jot down as many items as they can remember seeing in the tray.

For adults, you can increase the number of items in the tray. This memory game is not only fun but also great to prevent and delay dementia in adults.

One of the best things to do is to play a combination of brain games daily to make sure that all parts of your brain are put to good use.