Are Crossword Puzzles Enough to Boost Your Brain Power?

You may have heard that solving crossword puzzles daily is a great way to strengthen your brain cells. It is sure to be helpful. But scientists have also learned that the brain needs new experiences to be at its best. Merely doing the same thing over and over is not as effective as you might think.

Sharpbrains.com is a research and advisory firm dedicated to helping individuals, companies and health providers stay on top of the latest research in brain fitness. Their site gives this noteworthy advice:

"The point of having a brain is precisely to learn and to adapt to challenging new environments. Once new neurons appear in your brain, where they stay in your brain and how long they survive depends on how you use them. 'Use It or Lose It' does not mean 'do crossword puzzle number 1,234,567.' It means, 'challenge your brain often with fundamentally new activities.'"

The well-known seniors' organization, AARP, quotes Dr. Lawrence Katz of Duke University Medical Center. He believes that when we go through the same routines day after day, the brain activity required to do these tasks actually decreases. But when we engage in new activities, or even changes in our routines, we are triggering parts of the brain that weren't used before. This creates "enhanced activity in the brain."

RevolutionHealth.com has compiled a list of recommendations from neuroscientists on the best activities to boost our brain health. Among the recommendations: activities should teach you something new, they should be challenging, they should be progressively more difficult, and they should be rewarding.

So how do crossword puzzles fit in? If you are doing crossword puzzles that are increasingly difficult and if you find it rewarding, your pastime may be beneficial. But if you are repeatedly solving "Easy Crosswords" from the newsstand and you find it to be tedious, the benefit may be limited.

What should you do if you really love word puzzles, but you want more brain stimulation than you're receiving from your crosswords? Try something new! Try other clue-based and wordplay puzzles. Try logic puzzles. Try number puzzles. Try anything that is fun, challenging and new.

2008 Ann Richmond Fisher

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