10 Reasons Crossword Puzzles Are Good for You

Summary: Most of us see crossword puzzles as the source of time pass. But, they can bring excellent benefits and let us explore some of the reasons why these puzzles can be good for an individual.

Stephen Sondheim, An American Lyricist and Composer once stated that ‘the nice thing about a crossword puzzle is you know there is a solution’. Most of the humans generally feel happy about arriving at solutions that are actually hard to reach.

Crossword puzzles can bring in a lot of benefits to any individual, regardless of his/her age. Of course, they can make the brain sharp and engaged. Even, they can do wonders to your social life, when you solve at least a single puzzle in a week. While it is a good hobby to maintain, here are 10 other reasons why such puzzles can be good for you:

1. Preventing dementia: As humans get older, their brain power begins to diminish and they will find it difficult to concentrate on things. But, puzzles in general can keep the brain sharp. You might be surprised to know that the Alzheimer’s Association recommends solving crossword puzzles to reduce the chances of dementia.

2. Improvement to verbal skills: It is true that if you are not good at vocabulary, you will find it difficult to solve such puzzles. But, even when you are not able to finish one, you will start to identify the meaning of different words as you begin solving the clues one after the other. Studies have proven that daily solving of crossword puzzles will help a great extent in improving your verbal skills.

3. Improved problem solving ability: This is an excellent tool to practice problem solving skills. Tyler Hinman, a five-time winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, once stated that people, who are good at solving these puzzles, will be good at science and mathematics for sure. The reason is that science, mathematics and crossword puzzles share something in common. Yes, they are all about looking at encoded data and the ability to translate them quickly into something meaningful.

4. You will learn to see patterns: Many people love to see patterns in their lives and they can very well practice solving these puzzles. The reason is that when they begin solving them, they will get to know how different things are connected and they are stated to be the great tool to provide the best workout to your muscle that is given by nature for detecting patterns.

5. Find your flow: Another important health benefit, which is stated to be negative thing by many people is that it will make you lose yourself for a while. But, this is not actually the negative aspect, but it is a positive aspect as it will improve your flow of concentration. You might be surprised to know that engaging in some activity each day for some time that takes you completely out of your stress is actually a form of medication for your mind. When you get lost into the puzzle, you forget about the things around you that are creating a whole lot of stress to your mind and body, such that you can lead a healthy life for longer.

6. The exciting moment: Without any doubt, when you find the answer for a puzzle all of a sudden after spending a long time, the excitement that you get at the moment is something that cannot be compared to many other joyous moments in your life. There will be a series of puzzles involved and excitement comes when you find solution to each of them and the final completion is something more enjoyable.

7. As a learning tool: Many teachers these days are using crossword puzzles as the learning tools in their classes to make the class more engaging and interesting for the students. When they get the chance to solve the puzzles with some clues, kids will remember the concepts forever in their lives. When kids are taught concepts in a playful manner, they will understand the concepts completely and they will also develop the skill of explaining the same on their own words. So, teachers are recommended to use these puzzles as the teaching tools in their classes.

8. Bonding: When you solve a puzzle along with your family or friends, it will create a sense of bonding with your family and friends. This will happen without your knowledge as well.

9. Spelling skills will improve: Not just your vocabulary, you will also be able to improve your spelling skills with these puzzles. When you regularly play these puzzles, your spelling skills will improve and this will also happen without your knowledge. At the end of the day you will find that you have learnt some new words with their spelling and their meaning as well.

10. Improve your analytical skills: Not just problem solving skills, you will be in a position to improve your analytical thinking ability when you begin solving crossword puzzles. The reason is that you can find answers to some of the clues, only when you have analytical thinking ability. In addition, when you use the internet for solving the puzzles, you will also get to know how to use the right search terms for finding the solution to the clue. Yes, searching the internet is actually a trick and one can arrive at the right solution only when the right keywords are used for searching.

So, what are you waiting for? You have explored the top 10 benefits you can get from crossword puzzles. Just begin with solving an easy and smaller puzzle and slowly you can improve the size and the number of clues to be solved. There are good many sources online from where you can find these puzzles and even some magazines and daily newspapers have them. Of course, the ones that you will find in newspapers will be hard initially, so begin with simple ones and then you can go for bigger ones.