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Mental activity games are games that challenge your cognitive skills, such as memory, attention, logic, problem-solving, and creativity.
They can range from puzzles and riddles to brain teasers and trivia. Some examples of mental activity games are Sudoku, crossword, chess, Scrabble, and Lumosity.
But why should you play these games?
What benefits do they offer for your brain health and performance?
In this article, we will explore the role of mental activity games in enhancing your mental abilities and preventing cognitive decline.
Mental Activity Games Can Improve Your Cognitive Functions
One of the main reasons to play mental activity games is that they can improve your cognitive functions, such as memory, attention, logic, problem-solving, and creativity.
By playing these games, you can strengthen your neural connections and create new ones, which can enhance your cognitive performance and efficiency.
For example, playing Sudoku can improve your working memory, which is the ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind for a short period of time.
Working memory is important for tasks such as mental arithmetic, reading comprehension, and reasoning.
Similarly, playing chess can improve your logic, problem-solving, and planning skills, which are crucial for decision making, strategy, and critical thinking.
Chess can also boost your creativity, as it requires you to generate and evaluate multiple possible moves and outcomes.
Moreover, playing Scrabble can improve your verbal skills, such as vocabulary, spelling, and word recognition.
Verbal skills are important for communication, expression, and literacy.
Mental Activity Games Can Prevent Cognitive Decline
Another reason to play mental activity games is that they can prevent or delay cognitive decline, which is the loss of cognitive functions due to aging, disease, or injury.
Cognitive decline can affect your quality of life, independence, and well-being.
According to research, mental activity games can protect your brain from cognitive decline by increasing your cognitive reserve, which is the ability of the brain to cope with damage or deterioration by using alternative strategies or compensatory mechanisms.
By playing these games, you can maintain or enhance your cognitive reserve and reduce the risk of developing dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or other cognitive impairments.
For example, playing crossword puzzles can reduce the risk of dementia by 47%, according to a study that followed more than 17,000 older adults for five years.
Crossword puzzles can keep your brain active and engaged, which can prevent or slow down the accumulation of amyloid plaques, which are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
Similarly, playing Lumosity, a popular online platform that offers various mental activity games, can improve your cognitive abilities and delay cognitive aging, according to a study that involved more than 4,700 older adults for 10 weeks.
Lumosity can target different aspects of cognition, such as speed, memory, attention, flexibility, and problem-solving, and provide personalized feedback and adaptive difficulty levels, which can optimize your brain training and outcomes.
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Conclusion
Mental activity games are not only fun and entertaining, but also beneficial for your brain health and performance.
By playing these games, you can improve your cognitive functions, such as memory, attention, logic, problem-solving, and creativity, and prevent cognitive decline, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or other cognitive impairments.
Therefore, it is advisable to incorporate mental activity games into your daily routine and enjoy the positive effects they can have on your mind.
