GREEN VALLEY - At first glance, brain aerobics may look like idle fun, but it's far from mere child's play.

The activity has gained international acceptance as a method for maintaining mental function by using word games, simple math problems, puzzles and other brainteasers that many people would remember from their childhoods.

"It's really beneficial for people who are getting older to do any cognitive exercise," says Claudia Freund, a native of Germany who has a doctorate in psychology from Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, as well as experience as activity director at some Green Valley-area retirement communities.

"These activities that are taught at communities - like word games or any type of mental games - are certainly good for the mind."

Holistic health practitioner Patricia Izzi has seen the benefits firsthand. Izzi, who teaches the activity at La Posada and for Green Valley Recreation, says the key to the activity's effectiveness is to get brains working in a new way.

"The best way to get neurons firing is by doing something different," she says. "We get so used to doing the same things, it's like ruts in the snow."

Geriatric psychiatrist Gary Small of the UCLA Longevity Center notes the brain's ability to adapt, and says promoting its health bears some similarities to other areas of the body.

"The existing research is suggestive that these activities strengthen brain cells. It's like physical fitness. It can make neurons more efficient and build up strength," the author of "The Alzheimer's Prevention Program" says.

Maintaining that cerebral vitality is extra-challenging for people later in life, says Izzi.

"Unless they choose to keep their minds active by joining a group that's politically or artistically oriented, they're probably doing less deductive reasoning and have less neuronal activity," she says. "So they need to find something to keep their neurons firing."

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'Brain aerobics' keep seniors' minds fit