What do puzzles do for the brain

Doing this exercise regularly helps us improve our spatial reasoning. Greater Attention to Detail. When solving a puzzle, especially if the pieces are very similar, it is crucial to pay attention to details. You need to train your eyes to find the small differences in colors or shapes that will help you complete the image. The ability to capture small details can help us in all aspects of our lives, especially at work.

When we are more detailed and precise, the quality of our work improves. Improve memory. Strengthens neural connections and increases the generation of new connections. This increases mental speed and thought processes. When we pick up a piece, you have to search among the others for a color or shape that you have in mind and visualize the image on a large scale to see which pieces go together.

When you exercise the part of the brain in charge of storing this information helps to maintain and improve short-term memory. Increase your IQ. Researchers from the University of Michigan , led by Dr.

Improve problem solving ability. To solve the puzzles you take different approaches to try to solve a problem, since it is a trial and error test. You also learn the value of formulating theories, testing hypotheses, and changing your perspectives when something doesn't go as planned. These skills can be transferred to work, making you more innovativing in problem solving, more critical thinking , and better adaptive skills.

Increased productivity. When you are happier and less stressed, it is easier to focus. When your concentration improves , your productivity skyrockets. If you're having trouble staying focused on your studies or work, consider taking a short break to do a puzzle and reset your brain. Many offices are beginning to include puzzles and similar games in their resting areas.

These games help employees disconnect from work for a few minutes and come back refreshed and ready to start again. Better collaboration and teamwork. Another reason to incorporate puzzles into your workplace is that they help build collaboration between coworkers.

Yale University researchers found that when workers can puzzle together in the workspace it helped them improve their relationships and the ability to cooperate and teamwork. Better mood. Solving puzzles has a great benefit, it increases brain production of dopamine. This neurotransmitter is responsible for regulating mood and optimism. It also affects learning, memory, concentration, and motivation. Dopamine is released every time we do a puzzle and even every time we put a piece in the right place.

There's a quiet movement going on in this country, and it doesn't involve apps, data or the latest fad. Following the lead of vinyl record albums, coloring books and traditional board games, jigsaw puzzles are seeing a resurgence in popularity. Wrestling yourself away from screens, devices, even the television can be a nearly impossible task, but it's vital to our mental and even physical health.

A jigsaw puzzle requires your full attention and therein lies the magic. Everyone from tweens and teens to millennials and over-worked parents to seniors are returning to this quiet pastime of childhood. Call it a retro revolution. Puzzles increase the production of dopamine, every time we succeed at a puzzle , i.

That sense of achievement, no matter how small, helps improve mood significantly. This increase in dopamine which increases mood reinforces the desire to do puzzles more to get a good feeling.

No wonder it's so hard to stop doing a puzzle! Puzzles help children and adults relax as well as helping reduce stress. When someone is more relaxed, they are able to concentrate more easily, which greatly improves productivity. Short breaks to do puzzles during work or learning can help improve focus on the tasks at hand. Over the Summer Break, as children continue to learn, break up their learning time with a puzzle and let their brains reset.

When they return to their learning, you should notice a great improvement in concentration, productivity, and a greater eagerness to learn. The Power of Play by Scholar's Choice.

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