The given actions will improve the blood flow in your brain thereby strengthening the synapses between the nerves. You can spice things up by multi-tasking. Flip the pages of a novel or complete a crossword while talking on the phone or surfing the net. Laughing your brains out may not sound too good but it can help. Focusing only on a single mental activity will not exercise all the cognitive domains needed to keep the brains agile. Furthermore, consistent and long-term mental stimulation appears to be the key to reducing risk of memory loss and dementia. If you can, also include activities that address areas for short-term and long-term memories, critical thinking, visual and spatial orientation, calculation and language. Other possible cause of dementia are Parkinson s and Huntington s diseases, stroke, excessive alcohol and drug use, nutritional deficiencies, head injuries and illnesses related to the brain. Alzheimer s disease starts slowly. The areas that get affected first are those concerned with memory, language and reasoning. One method of attracting those reserves is by regularly hanging on to a book that can keep the motors on your brain running. Board games like crosswords and scrabble have been regarded for efficiently stimulating the brain. In England a unique finding has been made about Bingo. Elders who are fond of the game have shown a significant improvement in hand-eye coordination. In their study, a group of people who have performed meditation, a form of brain training, could reduce stress, lessen amount of cortisol released and improve attention within five days of training. Meditation does not only mean holding a particular position for a long time and chanting. Meditation would also involve relaxing your body, breathing exercises and visual imagery. In Jean Piaget s theory on children s cognitive development, there are four stages of cognitive growth among children: the sensorimotor stage (during infancy), pre-operational stage (toddler and early childhood), concrete operational stage (elementary and early adolescence_ and formal operational stage (adolescence until adulthood).