Sudoku Keeps Your Mind in Shape

You know your physical health is important, which keeps you going to the gym, out for a run or putting on a workout video every day. But how often do you exercise your mind? Unless you spend hours every night helping your teenager with algebra or War and Peace, your mind may need a workout just like your body.

It's well known that people who regularly do crossword puzzles have larger vocabularies, better communication skills and improved memory, and similar effects are now being seen in people who play sudoku. Brain fitness games like word puzzles and sudoku are helping elderly people improve their visual and verbal memory after events that cause mild memory loss.

Researchers found that brain fitness games played regularly offer modest improvements, because the games challenge a person's ability to think and remember. A group of elderly patients played games that tested their spatial, language, maths and memory skills at levels that grew harder as they progressed, while a control group played no games during the study. The players were tested often. There were minor improvements after two months, but at six months their scores were significantly better than those of the non-players. Playing regularly over a long period was the key to the improvement.

Another group of researchers looked at healthy people and found that mind games do very little to improve their problem-solving abilities and cognitive skills. So, just as you wouldn't live on a diet of only apples and carrots, it's probably not a good idea to do page after page of sudoku in the hope of preventing memory loss. That said, there's certainly no harm in playing if you enjoy it as entertainment. There are plenty of versions of sudoku online, as well as many other number games like bingo, concentration games and even popular physics games. It's far more useful than catching up on the latest reality show, and you get a feeling of success each time you finish a puzzle.

Will playing sudoku every day keep you from being diagnosed with Alzheimer's later in life? It's not a sure thing, but there's no harm in playing sudoku and word games to keep your mind agile and active. The best case is that you avoid memory loss as you age. The worst case is that you know some random trivia and can solve a sudoku faster than everyone else in your wing of the nursing home!