Reasons to Puzzle Every Day
If you are ever looking for a reason to puzzle every day, Debbie Jacobs has offered a few in her "Puzzling Every Day" article posted by Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday. She, like many others of us, discovered or re-discovered the joys and benefits of puzzling during the pandemic. The article describes her journey towards full appreciation for the puzzling experience, and she was kind enough to share her insights and lessons learned with the rest of us.
Image by Devanath from Pixabay
A summary of the benefits she mentioned are extracted or paraphrased below:
- They help children (and adults) to develop fine motor skills, concentration and problem-solving skills.
- They help to develop strategizing skills and problem-solving techniques.
- They develop visual-spatial reasoning.
- Puzzle-solving helps us discern details more.
- jigsaw puzzles strengthen and increase the generation of new neural connections This increases mental speed and thought processes.
- Jigsaw puzzles help us to develop short-term memory.
- The act of putting puzzles together creates a sense of well-being. Puzzles provide an instant feeling of joy and success.
- Jigsaw puzzles build confidence.
- Working puzzles creates a sense of flow – that feeling of being totally lost in an activity.
- Puzzles take time so they encourage patience in this push-button, instant-gratification world.
The key to getting the maximum benefits of puzzling is to select the right challenge level and piece-count based on age and experience and to work your way up from there. That way the puzzling experience is appropriately challenging without being too overwhelming and frustrating. At the end, when you have that wonderful sense of accomplishment... Go ahead, pat yourself on the back and say, "You did it. Well done! Now, where's the next challenge?" And to that we say, why Puzzlicious.com of course!
Click here for the full article: Puzzling every day (newsday.co.tt)
Sources: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, Debbie Jacob - Puzzling Every Day