I've known Jack for a little more than two years now. Close to a year ago I noticed something that is good news for TBI'ers. Other friends of Jack have since noticed the same thing. Jack's memory improved during that year. In fact, I believe his condition has improved in several ways since I first met him. (In case you don't know, Jack is over 80 years old and almost 20 years out from the automobile accident that caused most of the damage to his brain.)

I know the standard line is that most improvement will happen in the first year after the TBI. This is probably true, but that doesn't mean improvement will not continue. It just might happen at a slower rate. Jack is a perfect example of this. 20 years after his injury, his memory starts improving again. (Medical science still has an awful lot to learn about the brain.)

We're not sure to what we should attribute this improvement, but I do know that Jack continually pushes his brain to do more and more. He spends a lot of time on the computer; he stays up to date on his investments; he watches health shows on tv; he listens to NPR; but most of all, he stays involved in projects that interest him -- like this Web site, and digital canopies, the homeless, public tv, TBI's for a myriad of reasons, a national Web connection for the Society of Friends, the beginning of human life and its affect on stem-cell research and abortions, the importance of caregivers and physiatrists, and the list goes on.

Jack also gets a lot of physical exercise. He's an avid tennis player, and, weather permitting, he's on the courts several times a week. In fact, he got back into tennis about a year before we noticed the memory improvement. Coincidence? Maybe. But physical exercise is good for us for a lot of reasons. And if it turns out that it helps improve brain function, we'll be that much ahead of the game if we get started now.

If you've suffered a TBI and have used brain exercises that were helpful, we'd like to hear about them. Please use the Comments option to share your successful excercises with us and other readers. That's one of the main reasons Jack started this blog, to share information with people who live with a TBI. Please help us do that. What brain excercise(s) helped you?

Note: The picture with this post is from the Alzheimers Assisted Living Blog.

Labels: brain exercises, Memory, TBI, traumatic brain injury