Aging: Crossword puzzles and daily puzzles keep the brain sharp as it ages

Oe day, we may have to thank the legendary puzzle maker Will Shortz for defending our brains against the ravages of aging. Scientists have shown that spending time with crossword puzzles or numbers has incredible potential for keeping memory alive, even when the weather begins to wreak havoc on the brain.

Anne Corbett, Ph.D., a senior lecturer in dementia research at Exeter University, has been working on two studies that demonstrate the anti-aging power of word-based puzzles, such as words crossed and the numbers. based puzzles like Sudoku.

In both studies, she harnessed data from the UK PROTECT study, a broad survey of brain aging data. Corbett and his team used data from 19,708 participants aged 50 to 93, and found that people who used word or number puzzles were much better at testing 14 types of cognition. She and her team reported on their findings regarding mystery words in November 2018 and enigma numbers in February 2019. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

These studies show that older adults who frequently raise a puzzle tended to have the short-term memory ability of their younger eight-year-old and the grammatical reasoning of someone a decade younger.

"We hope this will encourage people to think regularly about how they are challenging their brains, and perhaps also to consider riddles or evidence-based brain training games as part of a lifestyle-oriented approach to keeping their brain healthy, "said Corbett. Reverse.

The benefits of word and number puzzles

Corbett's study is one of the few studies showing that frequent engagement with puzzles has lasting effects on memory and cognitive decline, slow memory loss, and other problem-solving skills that accompany aging (and which also characterize brain diseases such as Alzheimer's). Other studies include the Bronx Aging study, which showed that dementia patients who had made crosswords had begun to lose memory after 2.54 years later than those who did not do crossword puzzles.

No other study has this size cohort completing tests of so sensitive brain function. "

We can not draw exactly clinical For now, the findings of the Corbett study – all of its participants were healthy people who did not suffer from brain diseases – but its results are powerful for anyone just wanting to keep their mental balance more late in life. "PROTECT is the largest online cohort of older adults," she says. "No other study in this size cohort completing tests for such sensitive brain function."

Comparing the puzzle writers with those who did not, Corbett found the most striking differences between grammar reasoning tests, pattern recognition tests, and attention-intensity indices. Those who never did puzzles were "significantly inferior" to those who did any level, even a few times a week.

Meanwhile, people who frequently engaged in digital puzzles had better episodic memory – long-term memories that incorporated emotions and context in addition to facts. They have also performed well in space work memory tests, which involves keeping track of information about a physical environment, and they have shown improvements in attention, processing speed and accuracy. the executive function.

Why these puzzles protect the brain

These results double the idea of ​​"using or losing it," says Corbett, a sentence that sums up the hypothesis of cognitive reserve. This idea postulates that there are things we can do in our lifetime to protect ourselves against memory decline or even dementia in the years to come.