3 Great Games for Challenging Your Brain
Are you a fan of staying active and looking after the health of your body? Do you make sure to fit in exercise when you can and do your best to make healthy food choices? Now ask yourself what you are doing in terms of challenging and working out your brain. Just like other parts of your body, your brain benefits from challenging activities and games acting as a workout. Here’s a look at three great games you can play that will challenge your brain and keep it sharp.
Word Scrambles – Put Your Brain to the Test
If you’re looking for a quick, casual game that you can play any time, a word scramble can fit the bill. The premise is really simple with this style of game. You are given a bunch of letters that, when unscrambled, make a word. It forces your brain to look at the letters in a different order, which is excellent for vocabulary skills. Some examples of this style of the game include the classic Scrabble – both online and the board game version, Words with Friends and Letterpress.
If you find yourself getting stuck on a combination of letters, you can use tools like this online unscrambler to help you create words from a series of random letters.
Puzzles Are an Excellent Brain Activity
Another game to reach for if you want to challenge your brain is puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles are the most challenging as they have extremely small pieces, and the box can consist of hundreds if not thousands of pieces. If you’re new to puzzles you may want to start with a standard-size one and work your way up to a jigsaw puzzle.
It’s a good idea to have a flat workspace where you can lay out the puzzle and come back to it over a few hours, days or weeks depending on intricate it is. Some even like to glue the pieces on matting so that they can be framed once you finish it. Considering how many beautiful pictures, motifs and imagery you can find on puzzles nowadays, framing it could be a lovely piece of artwork.
Experts suggest you always work in an area with good lighting, put together the border first and then work your way inwards. It’s also smart to work on a small section at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed. For those who don’t like the idea of laying out a puzzle and dealing with that mess, try online puzzles instead. This is a no-mess solution that can be played on the go.
Consider Yourself a Math Whiz? Sudoku Is for You
Math-based games are always popular and can be more challenging than you may think. For those who consider themselves math whizzes, you’ll want to give Sudoku a try. You’ll find online apps, or you can purchase a Sudoku puzzle book. This is a number-based puzzle that is laid out in a grid formation – 3×3 totaling nine spaces. Each of the spaces needs to be filled in with the numbers one through nine, and you can’t ever repeat a number.
For beginners, choose a grid that has many numbers already filled in. The fewer numbers there are filled in, the harder the game will be. You can work up to these more advanced grids as you better your skills.
Think of your brain as just another muscle in your body, so giving it daily workouts will benefit it in a big way. All of these games will give you just the right amount of challenge, and you can always choose more advanced versions of them.
