Doing the crossword is no longer something that only smart people do. Rather, recent research that shows that even people who may not know all of the answers to the New York Times crossword can still improve their mental agility by doing various brain teaser games, such as the crossword. The National Academy of Sciences conducted a study in which they gave 35 volunteers daily exercises lasting around 25 minutes.

The tests included such things as hearing letters of the alphabet, and recalling whether it was the same as one heard three steps earlier. Another example involved being shown patterned squares and asked to match them with ones which had appeared previously. As the participant did better, the test became increasingly difficult. These tests were done over a period of three weeks, and participants abilities were compared to those people who had not been asked to take the tests. Researchers ended up concluding that the results showed a marked improvement for those participants who had been slower to start with; however, the mental ability of everyone improved.

A Little Goes a Long Way

The research is there. The small things you do now, whether it’s doing the crossword, playing a game of scrabble, or doing some other type of mentally stimulating game, can affect how your brain operates later in life. Certainly, you cannot expect to be able to complete the entire NY Times crossword puzzle tomorrow in one sitting having never done it before, but if you work at it little by little, you could get there. Similarly, you can’t expect to get better at anything really without a little bit of practice. So, invest the time now to do things that are mentally stimulating. It will serve you well later in life.

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