A lot has been said about games like crosswords, but the science has it down: they improve memory, attention and reasoning skills. In short, they help keep your brain sharp and young for longer.
In 2019, researchers have shown that people over 50 who regularly do crossword puzzles have equivalent brain function to people 10 years younger. A new study has just confirmed the benefits of crossword puzzles for brain health.
They can slow down cognitive decline. Doing crossword puzzles keeps the brain in good working order for longer. The new study looked at people between the ages of 62 and 80 with mild memory decline. She showed that after 3 months of practice, their thinking and memory skills had already improved.. Conversely, the other group which, in the study, had made brain training games, supposed to work the memory, did not obtain such results.
The brain shrinks less quickly
With age, parts of the brain shrink, which explains why people have poorer memories. In the study, people did crossword puzzles for half an hour each day, 4 times a week, for 3 months, then spaced out sessions for more than a year. They were given a brain MRI and found that it slowed the shrinking of their brainsincluding the region of the hippocampus, which plays a central role in memory and the cortex, which produces thought.
The researchers did not observe this effect in people who played memory games.
Why are crosswords beneficial?
In fact, the brain works like a muscle, it shrinks if you don’t use it. Compared to other games, crosswords have the advantage of appealing to several regions of the brain to find the right word. The clues given to find the words of a grid force us to make associations of ideas that we would surely not have made otherwise, which promotes new cerebral connections.
Sudoku also improves cognitive functions.
It appeals to the faculties of reasoning, but there are fewer possible associations than with words. That’s good too, but you have to do something else. Moreover, this is the secret to keeping a brain in shape: you have to vary your activities.
Vary activities to make the brain work differently
Those who don’t like crosswords can be reassured. Many other activities stimulate the brain, such as reading, music, drawing… What is important is to get out of your comfort zone, always learning new things, by going into contact with others and by exchanging. onns forget to oxygenate because, scientists say, physical activity is also effective in keeping the brain young for longer.
