Sudoku is good for the brain (5 reasons why)

Numbers can be a lot of fun, especially if we instill in our children a love of math from a young age. One of the best tools we have to exercise your logical and mathematical thinking is the famous sudoku game. Find out what are the benefits for your little ones to play this magnificent number game.

In this post we will talk about the famous sudoku, a number-based game that has many benefits for the brain and mind. Are you ready?

Sudoku is good for the brain

Sudoku is the most popular puzzle game since the 80s, and it can be played by anyone, it has no age limits. There are two ways to play it, through a book and a pencil or the online version. For the little ones it is recommended that they start playing in grids that go from 1 to 4 and from 1 to 6, since this way it will be much easier to learn to play.

Over time, the brain also ages and loses abilities. Solving puzzles, learning new languages, playing strategy games, or doing crosswords or Sudoku puzzles will slow down the deterioration. The latter became very popular in Japan in the 1980s and are now recommended by experts in Neurology and Preventive Medicine.

Sudoku means number only in the Japanese language and they are famous for stimulating and enhancing mathematical skills, critical thinking and logic. In addition, they are a good tool to learn while playing and to start neurons without realizing it.

A sudoku puzzle consists of a 9×9 grid. In total there are 81 boxes that must be filled in with numbers that go from 1 to 9 and that cannot be repeated. It is recommended to use a pencil and an eraser if it is to be done on paper. It can also be played on the computer or on mobile devices.

Whatever the support, the important thing is to be patient, start with the lowest levels and increase the difficulty little by little. Fifteen minutes a day may be enough to notice the benefits.

What does Sudoku do for us?

Improves concentration

Without focus, solving a Sudoku puzzle is difficult. This game, no matter how small, forces rational thought and any interference, spoils reasoning and induces the player to begin all her research all over again.

The brain learns to automatically shut out any source of interference through the frustration of continually returning to the starting point to be able to progress in the game.

More and more puzzles to be solved, the more the player is focused on the mission to be accomplished. Your ability to focus, step by step, will also increase.

This greater concentrating power will not be felt only during a Sudoku game. It will also affect other aspects of the life of the player, whether at work, in the analysis or in the execution of tasks that involve attention to detail.

Helps develop children’s problem solving ability

Every child is able to solve a puzzle like Sudoku that is simple and easy to understand. The ability to use rational thinking to appropriately fill in the table as well as the trial – and – error method that they need to apply helps children develop their own problem-solving skills naturally and naturally.

Moreover the difficulty of solving a puzzle which seems plain and repetitive to your mind will make you commit yourself more deeply to its solution in order to complete it as soon as possible. Your concentration abilities will also be improved as a result.

Promote healthy competition

Sudoku is a competition that is personal. In this game, time is not a constraint, but it always holds a timer right on the table so that the player can track their results.

The player can later discover with each new challenge that solving a puzzle requires less and less time. This timer can thus act as a motivational force to motivate the player to compete against himself in a healthy manner, while increasing his abilities at every move.

Improve memory

The player would probably feel the need to post down all the candidate numbers for and chart in their first tasks in easy mode to be able to track their success. These notes, however will quickly lose their significance as the brain will begin to naturally be able to maintain their details.

Notes are again a requirement at more advanced stages, but memory can need to be stimulated in various ways. Without resorting to a guide, the player would be able to recall complex techniques and apply them. Furthermore, he will also start memorizing combinations of puzzles previously solved and will automatically try to find ways to use them again.

It’s an accessible hobby

Sudoku is a game that does not classify, so people of all ages, irrespective of their economic situation, can enjoy it. The ability for rational thought and all humans have it is its only prerequisite.

With Sudoku in paper, there are few books and newspapers, but anyone can find numerous puzzles with different levels of difficulty totally free on the web.

Provides a sense of accomplishment

Finishing the table and resolving a puzzle with Sudoku gives the player immense pleasure and a sense of achievement. The tougher the mission and the greater the fight to find the answer, the stronger these emotions become.

This is a reward game for individuals and themselves. It is a chance, without any outside intervention, to test one’s personal strengths.

The player celebrates the advantages of Sudoku with each new game, but it also provides a moment of self-knowledge. Therefore, finding your own skills and finishing the table results in a sense of achievement and satisfaction that is hard to accomplish in other games.

The curious Sudoku effect

Sorting numbers have unsuspected and contradictory effects. In September, a study published in the journal Psychology and Health advanced that mental activity reduces the willpower to exercise and, therefore, adds inches to the waist.

In fact, Kathleen Martin Ginis, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University and the main author of the report, pointed out that “cognitive tasks and those that regulate emotions can reduce our ability to exercise.” In short, an intense day at work, let’s say, takes away the desire to move.

Or what is the same: that using willpower to perform a certain task reduces that which we can use to do another totally different. And, according to Martin Ginis, willpower is a resource that is depleted if it is not fed.

The expert compared it to “a muscle.” “You have to exercise it to keep it toned,” she said. Headline result of her statements in some media at that time: “Sudoku puffs get fat.

On the other hand, Tim Forrester is not in the least concerned with consuming willpower or concentration in mental agility exercises, because, as he stated a few days ago, an hour of sudoku consumes about 90 calories, which is “more than a chocolate cookie.

Our brain needs 0.1 calories every minute to survive ”, Forrester pointed out. When we do a puzzle or crossword we burn 1.5 calories every minute, added Cannyminds.com on the website.

And from there the man calmly deduced on the SkyNews network that doing mental exercise is like doing physical exercise. Headline used by some media after their statements:

Sudoku puffs help you lose weight.

Apparently, regardless of what the studies say, ordering numbers causes morphological or headline changes.

Doing crosswords and sudoku puzzles rejuvenates the brain for up to ten years

Older adults who regularly do word or number hobbies, such as crosswords and Sudoku puzzles, have better-functioning brains, according to the largest online study to date, which had more than 19,000 participants, led by the University of Exeter and the King’s College, London.

The findings have been published in two linked articles in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, although the results of the effect of crossword puzzles on the brain had already been advanced at the International Conference of the Alzheimer’s Association in 2018. 

The new research Expands on the findings, as you’ve seen the same effect on Sudoku puzzles.

Researchers asked participants in the https://www.protectstudy.org.uk/PROTECT study, the largest online cohort of older adults, to report how often they performed crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles and to perform a series of cognitive tests sensitive to measuring changes in brain function.

They found that the more puzzles they solved, the better they performed on the tasks of assessing attention, reasoning and memory.

From their results, the researchers estimate that people who do crossword puzzles have brain function that is 10 years younger than their age on tests that assess grammatical reasoning, and eight years younger on tests that measure short memory term.

“We have found that the more time you spend doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku, the better you perform on a series of tasks that assess memory, attention and reasoning. The improvements are particularly clear in the speed and precision of its performance.’’ explains. Dr Anne Corbett, from the University of Exeter School of Medicine, who led the research.

‘’In some areas, the improvement was quite significant. We can’t say that playing these puzzles will necessarily reduce the risk of dementia in the future, but this research supports previous findings indicating that regular use of word or number puzzles helps our brains function better for longer“, she continues.

FAQS: Sudoku is good for the brain

Does Sudoku help with memory?

Yes, sudoku helps with memory.

Does Sudoku make you smarter?

“Intelligence games” have the same brain effect as surfing the net, says study; in some respects those who used the Internet were more successful than those who gambled.

Which puzzle is best for brain?

Experts on the subject have shown that solving sudokus stimulates logic, memory, reasoning and increases the ability to concentrate, among other benefits.

Are Puzzles good for your brain?

As happens when learning a language, when reading or playing a musical instrument, the person who practices hobbies and puzzle games, enhances their mental activity, facilitates cognitive reserve, short-term memory and improves reasoning.

Why is Sudoku bad?

Sudoku puzzles can offer a good workout for your brain, but they may add inches to your waistline. This could explain why, even though they didn’t even need to get out of their chair, some people felt physically drained after a puzzle. 

In this post we talked about the famous sudoku, a number-based game that has many benefits for the brain and mind. 

If you have any questions or comments please let us know!

References

Berman, B. (2008). U.S. Patent Application No. 12/002,522.

Aamodt, S., & Wang, S. (2007). Exercise on the brain. The New York Times.

Job, V., Dweck, C. S., & Walton, G. M. (2010, September). Ego Depletion-Is It All in Your Head? Implicit Theories About Willpower Affect Self-Regulation. Retrieved December 8, 2020, from ResearchGate website: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46579000_Ego_Depletion-Is_It_All_in_Your_Head_Implicit_Theories_About_Willpower_Affect_Self-Regulation

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