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Modern medical science has shown that playing Scrabble or other “thinking” board games has many health benefits. No matter what your age, “brain sports” like Scrabble have been shown to be especially beneficial for many aspects of human mental health.
At the simplest and most obvious end of the spectrum, the social aspects of Scrabble and other board games can be preventative or even a treatment for loneliness, depression, and social phobia.
At the other end of the spectrum, a study from the University of Southern California and published in the respected “Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences” shows that mentally stimulating recreational activities in early and middle adulthood are strongly associated with reduced risk. Alzheimer’s disease. in adulthood.
A similar study conducted by the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health in 2002 studied 700 people without dementia aged 65 years or older over a period of 4.5 years. The level of active cognitive activities performed regularly by the study participants, such as card games, checkers, crossword puzzles, book reading, and museum visits, were compared. The NIH concluded that those with the highest levels of cognitive activities in their lifestyle had a 47% lower risk of future Alzheimer’s disease than those with the lowest levels of cognitive activities in the lifestyles.
A 2008 study from the University of New South Wales published in the renowned journal “Public Library of Science” adds that, in addition to Alzheimer’s disease, the onset of other degenerative brain diseases such as Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases can also be delay or prevent with these ways. of mental activity. It found that a region of the brain known as the hippocampus, known to shrink with age and particularly with these three degenerative brain diseases, has only half the rate of shrinkage in people who perform active mental tasks than in those with low levels of mental stimulation. .
Evidence suggests a “use it or lose it” basis for human cognitive health.
If it’s too late for prevention, research from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center published in the “Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry” still has some encouraging news. They have shown that computer and internet-based mental stimulating activities, such as games, can play a useful role in conjunction with medication in improving cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients. That’s another advantage of Scrabble, whose various versions on the Internet have made the game one of the most popular online today.
Regardless of Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, cognitive decline is a very common phenomenon as we progress through the years. Medical research clearly teaches us that keeping the brain active with puzzles, games, studies, and the like is an effective method of slowing the rate of age-related cognitive decline. Furthermore, the earlier in life one begins to regularly participate in such active brain games and activities, the more time passes before any cognitive decline begins.
The lesson is clear. Play Scrabble and other brain games regularly to improve and maintain your overall mental health throughout life and to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of age-related cognitive decline in later life.