The more regularly adults aged 50 and over played puzzles such as crosswords and Sudoku, the better their brain function, according to new research led by the University of Exeter, UK.
Regular word and number puzzles linked to sharper brain in later life. Image credit: Steve Buissinne.
University of Exeter’s Dr. Anne Corbett and colleagues asked 19,078 healthy volunteers aged 50 to 93 years old to report how frequently they engage in word and number puzzles and undertake a series of cognitive tests sensitive to measuring changes in brain function.
The researchers found that the more regularly participants engaged with the puzzles, the better they performed on tasks assessing attention, reasoning and memory.
From their results, they calculate that people who engage in word puzzles have brain function equivalent to 10 years younger than their age, on tests assessing grammatical reasoning and eight years younger than their age on tests measuring short term memory.
“We’ve found that the more regularly people engage with puzzles such as crosswords and Sudoku, the sharper their performance is across a range of tasks assessing memory, attention and reasoning,” Dr. Corbett said.
“The improvements are particularly clear in the speed and accuracy of their performance. In some areas the improvement was quite dramatic — on measures of problem-solving, people who regularly do these puzzles performed equivalent to an average of eight years younger compared to those who don’t.”
“We can’t say that playing these puzzles necessarily reduces the risk of dementia in later life but this research supports previous findings that indicate regular use of word and number puzzles helps keep our brains working better for longer.”
The study used participants in the PROTECT online platform, run by the University of Exeter and Kings College London.
Currently, more than 22,000 healthy people aged between 50 and 96 are registered in the study.
“PROTECT is proving to be one of the most exciting research initiatives of this decade, allowing us to understand more about how the brain ages and to conduct cutting-edge new studies into how we can reduce the risk of dementia in people across the UK,” said Professor Clive Ballard, also from the University of Exeter.
“If you’re aged 50 or over, you could sign up to take part in research that will help us all maintain healthy brains as we age.”
The findings were published in two papers in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
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Helen Brooker et al. The relationship between the frequency of number-puzzle use and baseline cognitive function in a large online sample of adults aged 50 and over. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, published online February 11, 2019; doi: 10.1002/gps.5085
Helen Brooker et al. An online investigation of the relationship between the frequency of word puzzle use and cognitive function in a large sample of older adults. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, published online November 15, 2018; doi: 10.1002/gps.5033
