Puzzles Can Help Prevent or Delay Dementia or Alzheimer’s!

National Puzzle Day was January 29th! Doing puzzles is a great exercise for your brain, and scientific studies have even shown that having lifelong experience doing puzzles may help delay or prevent the onset dementia or Alzheimer’s. The study also indicated that those already with mild to severe Alzheimer’s who did puzzles twice a week showed improved scores on memory and cognition tests! They also reported having a better quality of life. Some benefits of puzzles include:

• Feeling good about accomplishing a puzzle
• Doing puzzles can a kind of meditation, where you are focusing, relaxed and breathing. Meditation has proven overall health benefits.
• Positive social interaction (teamwork!) when doing puzzles with others. Puzzles are fun for those of all ages, so it can be a whole family activity too
• Helps increase visual perception and memory
• Practice fine motor skills
• Accessible for all those with physical limitations
• You can do a puzzle any time of year, inside or outside!