Feeling elated after completing crosswords or even smashing your personal best in an online word puzzle? Well, if you didn’t know, there’s so much more to be gained from daily word games. Ever wondered how your brain would respond if you played these word games for a month straight? Spoiler alert: It’s more than just having fun—your brain undergoes some fascinating changes.
By the end of this article, I’m sure you’ll feel enthused to reach out for your puzzle book or device to get your brain-boosting adventure started.
Neuroscience research on word games reveals not only the cognitive benefits but also looks at changes in the brainstem corpus callosum—the bundle of fibers that connects the brain’s two hemispheres and is associated with movement, spatial awareness, and cognition.
How Daily Word Games Clash With Your Mind
Daily word puzzles motivate individuals to learn through captivating and visually stimulating designs. You might not have noticed but, there are many sitting behind every puzzle.
From activating the correct answers to recalling facts, crosswords untap a unique domain in every person’s mind.
- Custom argument activating neural networks improves information storage and retrieval, enabling the brain to thrive on multiple levels—physiologically and psychologically.
- Improving Brain Function: Completing a puzzle is the same thing as attempting to solve a problem because all of them can be solved. The more you try solving such problems, the better you get towards solving other creative tasks.
- Stimulating Neuroplasticity: Neuroplasticity pertains to the capability of the brain to remodel, grow and change. Strenuously trying those word puzzles keeps the brain active while new connections are being formed.
When played every single day, word games serve as a mental workout and when done routinely over time, will improve mental capabilities.
Week 1: Prepping the Basics
- What to Anticipate: Completing the first week of word games on a daily basis prepares the brain for the challenge ahead. You will feel like you are straining mentally but all that is happening is your brain gearing up.
- A Positive Change in Attention: Attempting to solve any puzzle no matter how small increases overall attention to patterns. Exercises boost multi-tasking capabilities and handler distractions better.
- Mental Puzzles: In particular, you might draw from a well of frustration, but be prepared to encounter cognitive challenges that feel beyond your current capabilities.
- Motivation Boost: Completing a puzzle activates dopamine receptors; therefore, it enhances the feeling of satisfaction. This can enable you to feel motivated to tackle greater challenges, such as overcoming other puzzles in your day or additional activities.
- Pro Tip: Begin with word games appropriate to your current ability. Games that are too difficult can feel demotivating, while those that are too easy will not sufficiently challenge your brain.
Week 2: Sharpening Your Cognitive Tools
- What to expect: By the second week, the brain starts adjusting, and the advantages brought about from the routine become more visible.
- Elevated Processing Speed: Enhanced routine results in increased mental processing speed. You might find yourself spotting patterns or solving riddles at a much quicker pace than earlier.
- Lexical Mastery: With the aid of word games, new terms are regularly presented, thus improving your vocabulary. Be ready to hear new impressive words being used by you.
- Enhanced Memory Recall: As the memory circuits become more robust, recalling particular information or words becomes seamless.
- Pro Tip: Switch your word game schedule. Do anagrams today, then crossword puzzles tomorrow, and finish the week with word search puzzles. There’s no doubt that each of these activities makes different parts of your brain work, thereby improving several areas at once.
Week 3: The Cognitive Sweet Spot
- What To Expect: After three weeks, you will be fully adapted. A word game is not a chore anymore but an experience to be savored.
- Enhanced Problem-Solving Abilities: Strategy is a skill crafted by solving puzzles. Daily challenging activities sharpen your reasoning skills which often transfer to other domains of one’s life like work, decision making, or planning.
- Improved Mental State and Less Stress: Relieving stress is something word games do very well. Getting lost in the action of a word puzzle can help you calm down and become much more relaxed.
- Social Benefits: For those who started playing word games with their friends or family, it is likely that the bond created becomes deeper, including more lively conversations.
- Pro Tip: Use multiplayer word games or applications that allow competition with others. Engaging in friendly competition can make the game more enjoyable.
Week 4: The Transformation Phrase
- What To Expect: After the 30 days you will feel the full effects of consistent word game play.
- Peak Mental Sharpness: You might start feeling more mentally active throughout the day with heightened alertness, and activities that feel mentally taxing for you may have now started to become easier.
- Strong Neural Connections: Your dedication to solving puzzles has firmer synaptic connections which give your brain flexibility and resilience for consistent long term cognitive health.
- Lasting Habit: In this case, if you play for a month straight, this activity will likely become a part of your routine.
- Pro Tip: Think about your goals and reflect on strategies to achieve them. Consider journaling your achievements and improvements. This can encourage more accomplishments.
The Advantages of Word Games Over an Extended Period
- The 30-day mark isn’t the endpoint for puzzles of any kind. Studies indicate word puzzles accompanied with challenges can:
- Postpone mental aging: Completing brain teasers is strongly correlated with a diminished chance of developing Alzheimer’s.
- Sharpen inventiveness: Word puzzles tend to improve the flexibility of your mind, thereby helping boost creativity.
- Improve general IQ: While they will not instantaneously transform you into a genius, word games improve the mental functions associated with intelligence.
Tips to Help You Begin Your Daily Word Games
Not certain where to start? Here are some methodologies that can help maintain word games consistency:
- Schedule Slots: Designate a specific time in the day to carry out your word game. It can be during your shower, while drinking coffee, or before sleeping. Once again, make it a point to follow your schedule.
- Monitor your activity: Use the various apps available that track the statistics of their users. Watching the scores improve can be incredibly motivating.
- Invite Your Friends: make it social! Start a Duels tournament whereby you can challenge your friends every day, or share your progress to motivate each other.
- Try Puzzle Jam: speaking of word games, have you tried out Puzzle Jam? It is a game of puzzles created by Landi’s course creators who know how to balance fun and challenge in the most effective ways.
Are You Ready to Supercharge Your Brain?
Stay sharp and work for just 30 days straight on daily word games to increase your agility, focus, and confidence in thinking. Not to mention the fact that it is a lot of fun to work on your brain health.
So wouldn’t you like to start now?
Download Puzzle Jam now and immerse yourself in the perfect blend of stress and fun. Be it tackling on adding words to learning, enhancing your memory of de stressing after a hectic stressful day, Puzzle Jam is the game which helps you boost your brain.
