By partnering with Thinkie, FTJ empowers their staff, residents, visitors, and the community at large with world-class brain training.
Their Holistic Wellness Program already incorporates mental, emotional, spiritual, environmental, vocational, social and cultural well-being through activities such as art expression, aromatherapy sound baths, and tea tasting workshops. They provide educational seminars and interest groups along with more commonplace yoga, dance, and other physical fitness sessions.
Adding regular “Thinkie Tanks” to this schedule gives FTJ's Wellness Program participants a 30-minute slot to dedicate to brain training, assisted by the guidance of Wellness Center staff.
Sarah Doerner, Holistic Wellness Coordinator at Franke Tobey Jones, describes what she was looking for, and ultimately found, in Thinkie:
I was looking for an exciting and innovative brain training option, and Thinkie was just that! Thinkie provides a fun, interactive way for our seniors to stay mentally active and engaged. Residents have mentioned how much they love the friendly competition and the opportunity to be challenged in different ways. Our participants often stop by to check out the device after taking a fitness class. Others use Thinkie during an art class. With Thinkie, our seniors discover the power of their own minds. It is an invitation to try something new.
Implementing the game plan
Prior to implementation, Thinkie conducted basic training with both staff and interested residents. The system is designed to be simple and intuitive to use alone, but also fosters fun and informative group discussions on strategies for improving and maintaining brain health.
Sarah see a clear path for Thinkie to dovetail with many of FTJ's current slate of creative activities.
Art, for example: Different artistic techniques and practices can be both stimulating and relaxing to FTJ residents. Of course, different people experience these techniques differently, so it's important to get real-time visual feedback on one's brain activity to learn which stimulates your brain most consistently.
Using Thinkie's Brain Meter, artists see immediately which activities, moments, or practices are most engaging to their unique brain.
Consistent, novel stimuli is the key to brain health
Our brains crave novel stimuli and challenges that help us learn, and we can consistently attain this stimulation through art, music, reading, puzzles, games and media of all kinds. We need to consistently seek out these challenges throughout our lives to maintain our brain's ability to perform quickly and effectively.
The Thinkie Brain Meter enables anyone to learn which activities are most stimulating, and therefore beneficial, to their brain. Thinkie measures blood flow in a part of the brain that’s key for memory, mental processing, and concentration. When an activity increases blood flow in this part of the brain, the Thinkie Brain Meter shows you that increase in real-time.
In scientific terms, wearing the Thinkie sensor correctly on the forehead measures hemoglobin throughput in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
By taking a holistic approach to wellness programming, Franke Tobey Jones equips residents with the tools and knowledge to not only live healthy lives, but for their brains and bodies to both perform better with age.