SMARTfit brain training program brings cognitive and physical benefits for seniors

A new way to enhance brain health has come to the Wilmington area. The program, called SMARTfit, uses dual task performance training. That is, individuals train their body and mind together rather than separately, and they do so by playing interactive games.   

Leilani Freitas, community wellness manager for Porters Neck Village, brought SMARTfit to the retirement complex after seeing it at an International Council of Active Aging conference and realizing its potential to help seniors. 

“I knew we had to get it for our residents,” said Freitas. “This will help them live their best life as long as they can.” 

Key Takeaways

The Details

• Porters Neck Village brought SMARTfit to the Wilmington area after Community Wellness Manager Leilani Freitas saw its potential at an industry conference.
• Participants respond to illuminated numbers, letters, and patterns on a vertical board while completing mental exercises involving memory, counting, tracking, and pattern recognition.
• Physical activities can range from simple bending, stretching, and reaching to squats, balance exercises, throwing balls, and punching targets.

The More You Know

• Dual-task training works the brain and body at the same time rather than training them independently.
• Potential cognitive benefits include improved memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function; physical benefits may include better balance, agility, cardiovascular fitness, and leg strength. 

Research supports positive benefits from dual task performance training for healthy seniors as well as those who have suffered a stroke or have cognitive decline. Studies show that it helps improve cognitive skills such as memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function and physical abilities like balance, agility, cardio fitness, and leg strength.   

At first glance, SMARTfit games are simple. To play, individuals just need to touch the appropriate targets, which are numbers, letters, or patterns that light up on a vertical board.  

However, those movements become a lot more complicated when players have to use cognitive skills such as tracking, pattern recognition, and memory sequence to identify the correct targets. For example, SMARTfit games may require the players to match pairs of numbers, count forward or backwards by three or five, or do the alphabet.  

While performing the mental gymnastics described above, SMARTfit players are also exercising their bodies. A low-level workout may only require players to bend, stretch, and twist to reach the targets. However, Freitas makes the games more physically challenging for those who are more fit, she said. For instance, in addition to speeding up the rate at which the targets appear, the players may stand on BOSU balls or perform squats while hitting the targets; or they may throw playground balls or medicine balls at the targets or punch them with drumsticks or boxing gloves. The result is a whole body workout, she said. 

Freitas said she has flexibility to ensure individuals play SMARTfit games that best meet their abilities and needs. She can program 150 games with the software and adjust the games’ complexity and speed.  

Though the SMARTfit program has only been in use at Porters Neck Village since August, it is already a hit, Freitas said. Residents try it because it’s fun and keep coming back because they can see their progress, she added.  

“They see their gains automatically,” Freitas said. “They remember their scores and try to beat them. They are seeing they are faster and they are beginning to see cognitive gains.” 

Because they can sit down and play, SMARTfit also appeals to people who are often left out of physical activities, such as those who use canes, rollators (walkers with wheels), or wheelchairs,  Freitas said. It is also a good option for individuals with Parkinson's disease, she said. 

Currently, Porter’s Neck Village is the only local facility that has SMARTfit, but Freitas said she hopes area gyms and other senior facilities will add the program to their fitness offerings.