Seniors And Crossword Puzzles
Crossword puzzles have been used with children to improve their language and thinking skills. There are a lot of benefits among children like improved spelling, vocabulary, grammar skills, and even comprehension. It can even develop a lot or personalities like self-respect, overcoming challenges and developing patience among children. But how does it work for adults?
As people grow older, not only is it the physical body that we need to maintain and keep healthy. We also have to maintain and make sure our mind and spirit are healthy. Running and exercise is important for the body. Thinking and mental exercise is important for the brain. Keeping the mind active and alert can ward off dementia. Dementia is described as a decline on the brain’s function because of disease or just aging.
Mental exercises, like crossword puzzle, can be challenging. Questions are different from each other, daily there are different crosswords to answer. The mind functions and reacts differently for each question, making it function efficiently while answering the puzzle.
In the United States, a study which took 21 years showed that seniors who answers crossword puzzle four days a week has lower risk of dementia compared to those who are answering crosswords once a week. Seniors can develop their:
• Memory
• Attention
• Language
• Problem solving
• Remembering people’s names
• Remembering simple tasks and things, like time and channel for favourite shows
Forgetfulness and depression comes along with old age. There would be times you would be extremely sad since elderly cannot perform tasks that they used to perform. Also, numbers are showing that most people lose their memories. About 75 percent of senior citizens have memory-related problems.
You can also do crossword puzzles while drinking a cup of coffee or tea. By the way, coffee research showed that they can help revive the memory of the elderly who are 65 years and above. Coffee is best drank mornings and evenings.
Depression can also be addressed by having friends and family members over to do crossword puzzles. There are crossword clubs which you can join. Not only do crossword puzzles help the elders to expand their vocabulary, it would also help them be mentally alert. Both young and old can enjoy crossword puzzles.
Because of these reasons, there are brain exercise programs promoting the revitalization of our mental processes. There are brain training which are said to help seniors and adults who have memory problems. These brain trainings would claim they are a great help in fighting off Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. These brain training exercises are sold commercially. Actually their market is getting big fast. In 2005, their market was only worth $2 million dollars. Currently, it is hitting the &225 million mark.
Dr. Peter J. Snyder of Lifespan Affiliated Hospitals in Providence, Rhode Island, said in that answering crossword puzzles is probably just as effective or more effective than these commercial and formal brain training. You do not have to spend a lot of money by getting people to assist you in brain training. You can do it on your own.
Professionals like Dr. Snyder cited that participating in social and intellectual processes and activities, like playing with grandchildren, going out in senior get-togethers or luncheons, and doing crossword puzzles can help improve memory and brain function. The best thing is that these things that you can do are free.
