How are your jigsaw puzzle skills? Building a jigsaw has been a fun hobby for many folks for generations. What is great about a jigsaw is that it requires your full attention. You might have music on in the background but your focus will be on the puzzle. That is what makes them the perfect activity for the kids who need a break from the TV or their pads and still need to be engaged. All these years of building jigsaw puzzle might just have you enjoying the meditative time. Actually, you are achieving many benefits. Here’s what you are getting:
Left and Right Side Brain Stimulation
Our brains need workouts every bit as our bodies and a jigsaw puzzle provides a total brain workout. The left side of the brain is for logic solutions while the right side is more creative. With a jigsaw puzzle, both of those sides are engaged that can boost your problem solving abilities.
Helps With Short-Term Memory
Have you been forgetting simple things like what you had for dinner last night? A jigsaw puzzle reinforces all of those neuron connections between your brain cells. When those are strengthening so is your mental speed and ability to remember things in the short term.
Improves Visual-Spatial Reasoning
Every piece in a puzzle belongs interlocked to another piece. By visualizing how the pieces work together you are improving your visual-spatial reasoning. Why does that matter? It is the same skill that you activate any time you drive car, pack a suitcase, read a map or even dance with your partner.
Provides Stress Relief
Anyone who mediates knows the importance of staring at a fixed object. This is how you draw focus and clear out the “rabble” in your mind. With a jigsaw puzzle, your focus is 100% on what is right in front of you. By building your puzzle, you are relaxing and shucking off the stress of the day. You might even notice your blood pressure going down and your heart rate slowing.
They Can Bring the Family Together
Setting up an active jigsaw puzzle on a dining room table is a way to pull the whole family together. It is hard resisting the pull of the puzzle. You just can walk by without giving a few pieces a try. Before you know it, the whole family is helping out and having a good time. All from a single jigsaw puzzle.
