Solving Puzzles Can Enhance Your Cognition
Why Puzzles Are Such a Popular Pastime
Puzzles have always remained a popular pastime thanks to their entertainment value and convenience. You can use tickets for a concert or stage show only once, but these brainteasers can keep you entertained for hours.
You can work on a puzzle alone on a quiet evening or arrange a gathering where several of your family members or friends work with you on one. They are silent, so you can construct them in the same room where someone is reading, watching a movie, or taking a nap. They also don’t require batteries or recharging.
How Do Puzzles Enhance Your Cognitive Abilities?
Puzzles offer far more than entertainment. They can improve your ability to think in several notable ways and even help with mental disorders and disabilities.
Analyzation
Most people would never describe themselves as analysts, but that’s exactly what you become when you work on a jigsaw puzzle. You have to examine each piece and decide where it fits. The task requires repeatedly comparing the reference picture with the work in progress.
Concentration
Much has been said about the general loss of concentration skills among today’s fast-moving population. In contrast, they require you to slow down and think deeply. In other words, they can help you concentrate.
It’s extremely difficult to assemble one if you’re multitasking. So, try getting the most from your piece by turning off your phone notifications for an hour or two of helpful and peaceful silence.
Memory
Working puzzles will exercise your memory. Childhood education experts say these concentration pieces can help children develop the memory skills needed for school.
Healthcare professionals also recommend them for seniors who want to remain mentally sharp. Some experts think regularly solving them helps delay any possible onset of age-related dementia. They require you to remember the pieces that didn’t fit so you won’t waste time attempting to use them again in the same locations.
What Other Benefits Do Puzzles Offer?
There are too many benefits of jigsaw puzzles to list them all. However, let’s note a few additional advantages offered.
Spatial Awareness
Both children and aging adults can struggle to recognize the shapes and sizes of objects. Fortunately, puzzle-solving offers an opportunity to grow their ability in this area.
They ask you to look at a piece and imagine where its shape would be. It also requires you to orient the piece correctly, developing or strengthening your understanding of spatial concepts, such as above and under.
Mental Engagement
Psychologists have a name for the state of being mentally fully engaged in a task. It’s called flow. In that state, you temporarily lose track of time and the outside world as you focus on one specific activity.
According to science, the best way to enter flow is to tackle a project slightly beyond your comfort zone. The activity should be challenging without being frustrating. Researchers have linked the ability of people to regularly enter this state with the likelihood of them describing themselves as happy.