Seniors: maintain their memory thanks to sophrology

Seniors are sometimes anxious about losing their memory. And this, whether or not they suffer from a pathology due to aging. Sophrology is therefore a great ally to work on your alertness and reassure yourself about your cognitive abilities.

Eliminate pressure to boost performance

Stress is the main source of memory interference. It prevents information from being consolidated in the brain. This is why it will be more difficult for a stressed person to use their memories, near or far. In the elderly, the simple act of putting pressure on themselves for their ability to memorize can reduce their efforts to nothing. The impossibility of remembering is then experienced as a real failure.

The practice of sophrology helps to lower the level of stress and associated pressure. Through controlled breathing and muscle relaxation exercises, seniors learn to regulate their emotional state. By eliminating the source of interference, information is more willing to write down in its memory. Thus, our elders manage to call upon their memories in a more fluid and more peaceful way. In the event of an unsuccessful attempt, the method will back up to help them de-dramatize. Because after all, forgetting can happen to anyone.

Work your attention to anchor information

Whatever the age, in order for information to be properly fixed in the brain, it is necessary to pay a minimum of attention to it. Staying focused and not dispersing is what we learn from childhood when we start school. But this skill can be worked during working life and even after retirement.

This is sometimes a real training. Because when you are used to being in your thoughts, it can be difficult to remain attentive to your environment or to what is going on inside you. Many sophrology exercises offer to work simply on alertness and attention. Seniors are for example brought to approach their environment with a new look, to rediscover the forms, the contours as if they had never seen them before. But they can also use all their senses to capture the present moment. They will be attentive to the scents, to the light, to the noises which surround them, to the sensation of clothing on the skin or even at room temperature.

And to anchor information in full awareness, sophrology offers for example to work on a word to remember. By taking the time to imagine it, to perceive the color and the shape of its letters, the sound it produces when it is pronounced, the brain will have time to integrate it. Then it will be easier to remember.

Memories to work long-term memory

The wealth of memories and experiences gives the elderly a significant advantage in maintaining their memory. And it’s a perfect working base for sophrology. By looking back on pleasant memories, seniors can work on their long-term memory ability. Sometimes they are even surprised to remember distant details like the color of a piece of clothing or the arrangement of furniture in a room. And they are generally delighted to be able to benefit from their history.

For seniors, sophrology is not only a way to work on their memory, it especially makes it possible to observe all their cognitive and bodily capacities: concentration, alertness, senses. In this way, they regain self-confidence and have the feeling of regaining control of all their skills.