Crosswords & Health

“Just as physical activity is good for your whole body, mental activity is good for your brain. It's the old 'Use it or lose it' principle.

There are loads of these brain trainers on the market at the moment. Some of them, brain teasers in books and some of them,computer games. There's no hard evidence to show that any of these do boost your brain power.

But nonetheless, there is evidence to show that keeping mentally active protects against memory loss and reduces the risk of Alzheimer's. And that could be anything from stimulating conversation, keeping socially active, reading -that sort of thing. You don't need to spend money on all of these.”

“And keeping mentally active seems to be the key to maintaining your memory into old age.”

Read the full transcript by clicking here...

Nina Sunday, managing director of memory trainers Brainpower Training, says that unless you engage in a process of learning to shift information from the primary, or short-term memory to the secondary, or long-term memory, it is normal to forget more than you remember.

“Age doesn’t have to impair memory” she says. “Most people just need good strategies for remembering. If you’re preoccupied when you put your keys down, you may forget where you put them, so you need to be organised, and put them in the same place every time.”

“Some 90-year-olds have perfect memories”, says Dr Marie Gibbs, from Melbourne's Monash University. "Memory deterioration varies, and can depend on the amount of stress in your life," she says.

“Also, as we get older and life gets busier, it just gets harder to remember everything you are trying to remember. Doing things that interest you to keep your brain active may be the key to warding off memory deterioration.”

"Doing crosswords, reading and hobbies all increase the number of brain neuromodulators, the transmitters that determine whether something is remembered or not."

Emeritus Professor, retired head of La Trobe University’s School of Psychology and leading Australian expert on the benefits of exercising the mind:

• Crosswords are an excellent tool for keeping the mind active. It’s essential to understand that the brain needs exercising.
• Brain processes such as memory and cognition – even physical health – are helped by regular mental activity.
• Use it or lose it. Some people who suspect their memory is failing accept it as a sign of ageing. Reversing this attitude could save taxpayers millions in premature health care costs.
• Recent findings in Australia and overseas indicate that mental exercise is essential in keeping the brain active and healthy.
• We can measure the by-product of brain exercise in biochemical terms. We know that mental activity releases certain hormones. Some of these are important to immune functioning. Studies showed that crosswords caused the immune system to produce antibodies that helped people resist illness.
• Exercising the mind therefore impacts on a person ’s health and how long they’ll live.
• Researchers estimated that tackling regular crossword puzzles could add years to a person’s life.
• There are a lot of false beliefs about aging and one is that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
• A number of experiments have shown that when old people do crossword puzzles, it regulates their immune system better than if they had little mental stimulation.
Chess and bridge are also good but the challenges found in crosswords provide greater mental exercise because they involved the side of the brain concerned with language.

Interview with Professor George Singer, 23 April 1999

Historically, people had a notion that everybody was born with a reservoir of heartbeats that would be used in physical activity and that when they ran out you would die. It was never postulated that mental activity had any effect. This was very primitive thinking.

Research showed that this was false and that physical activity was beneficial and that the brain needs just as much exercise as the body. We need to keep up regular exercise for our bodies eg jogging in the park, but need to keep up mental fitness as well.

Thirty or forty years ago it was thought that the brain wasn’t a muscle and therefore couldn’t be exercised. These days though we are beginning to understand that like physical exercise, if mental activity is neglected there are negative results. Use it or lose it. If you don’t use it the brain cells don’t die but they aren’t being utilised either.

Now we know that mental fitness promotes health but it needs to be certain behavioural exercises. We also know that exercising your brain can make you live longer.

Brain exercise is definitely necessary and helpful. It needs to be mildly challenging and must be something we look forward to. It needs to stimulate the brain, which television doesn’t. Some types of reading are okay, but it can’t be the only thing.

It has always been the theory that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but this is not true, as Dr Harwood of Queensland University has shown. She advertised for a group of 60+ people and gave them tasks learning foreign language translation. She gave them regular translation exercises. The subjects had never before been involved in anything to do with learning German or translation, and yet after 6 months they performed at an equivalent level or better than the younger people. This proves that learning at any age is possible.

World authority on ageing and the brain.

• Mental activity slows degeneration.
• Doing crossword puzzles and keeping an active family and social life are the key to slowing the progression of diseases such as Alzheimer’s
• People with minds that are highly stimulated show slower progression of degenerative diseases.
• People whose brains are highly stimulated are less susceptible to brain disease and deterioration.
• Researchers hope Alzheimer’s patients might actually improve with mental stimulation.
• Crosswords are very good for your health.

Chess Grandmaster and UK researcher into the effects of mind -stretching games.

• If you want to live long and prosper, forget about jogging. It’s your brain you have to worry about.
• Mind-stretching games include crossword solving, chess, bridge and backgammon.
• By playing any or all of these, medical and psychological opinion believes you maximise your chances of a long and healthy life.
• Perhaps more importantly, that life will remain at a high – even increasing – level of mental activity.
• Brain cells [or at least ones that matter] do not inevitably die off as we age. Nor do our mental powers need to diminish.
• Contrary to earlier opinion, brain power and articulacy can increase with age if the mind is kept active.
• The theory that we lose millions of brain cells every day, especially after a drink, is utterly false although it has been widely accepted for years. Yet there is no scientific evidence for it. Quite the contrary.
• Experts believe that with improved lifestyles and medical advances, it will be reasonable for all of us to reach 100.

• Life insurance companies devise tests to help them gauge how long their clients will live. So it is important to get it right.
• Some questions examine whether their clients involve their minds in any activities.
• It’s an eye-opener to see the huge extent to which mental performance, IQ and mind-sports related answers can account for a STAGGERING 11.5 PRODUCTIVE YEARS IN YOUR FAVOUR.

Former head of the Brain Research Institute at UCLA

• Anything that is intellectually challenging can probably serve as a kind of stimulus for dendritic growth. That adds to your brain’s ability to work things out.
• Do puzzles … researchers agree that it is never too late
• All of life should be a learning experience because then we are challenging our brain and building brain circuitry. Literally, this is how the brain works.

Then, in 1987, Sylvia’s life changed. Involved in a severe car accident, she woke from a 3 ½ week coma with brain damage that had reduced her mental capacity to that of a child. For 4 ½ months Sylvia was paralysed and after a 5 ½ month stay in hospital, she was determined to make a full recovery.

Sylvia began her self-treatment with find-a-word puzzles that she hoped would stimulate her brain. These puzzles proved to be too easy and after discovering Lovatts crosswords, resolved to use them as her mental stimulation. She reasoned that the solutions in the back would serve as a prompt to her memory when it failed and would ensure that she learned words and phrases along the way.

After a short period of time, Sylvia found that her memory was improving and that she was able to retain more and more words and information. She was ‘cheating’ less and less in her crosswords and had taught herself to write sentences again.

Sylvia’s recovery has been remarkable and these days, you’ll find her living on Bribie Island with her two sons and writing a book about her experiences. Her story is inspirational and I wish that I could go into it in more detail than I’ve been able to here.

Extracts

"When I was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease I was a very angry person, you know, why me? My life is finished, I don’t want to let people see me like this etc, etc. Then I decided I had two choices. Sit in a corner and let life pass me by or become a very positive person. I chose the latter.

"Realising that my brain was already letting me down, namely I would have words in my brain but was quite often unable to express them I knew that brain exercise was essential, so I took a good look at what crosswords were available.

"I now attempt to do a puzzle a day and never use a dictionary or thesaurus as I know I have the correct words somewhere among my live brain cells!

"The puzzles have definitely increased my vocabulary and the new confident me sometimes gives Public Awareness talks on Parkinsons and I have also joined a discussion group. I now do this with authority, which I know your puzzles have helped me to achieve.

"I would recommend them to anyone recovering from brain related or ongoing illnesses such as Parkinsons. I feel certain your puzzles will help keep my cognitive ability intact for many years to come.

"During the onset of my illness, I was ‘clutching at straws’, and luckily, I grasped a ‘life-raft’, Lovatts Crosswords.

"My crosswords provided me with a tonic and therapy, not only has my grammar improved, but also my handwriting, the clouds of memory loss and vagueness have receded, and sunshine peeks through.

"I would also like to comment that if your readers know of anyone who is undergoing the debilitations of stresses and illnesses of the 21st Century, do them a favour, give them a crossword issue, I am sure you would be rewarded with a smile and thank you.

"This of course set me back a great deal physically and mentally. Three or four weeks before my discharge my surgeon came up to me and threw a Lovatts crossword book on my bed and said ‘Get into this’.

"I didn’t realise at first but it helped me to concentrate better and also helped me greatly with my memory. I would have to say it became the best medicine I could get for what I was going through at that time.

"Since doing your crossword magazines I have a great deal of confidence and my memory has improved so very much."

"I had lost all interest in my work, as I did the banking and book work for a large complex. I found that I just could not think clearly and words I knew just would not roll off my tongue like before and I grew frustrated and angry.

"Needless to say, I do in all sincerity owe my improvement and my new interest in life to Lovatts Crossword Puzzles. My husband would also like to thank you as he was very concerned and could not see an end to our situation."

"After some time of resting, boredom set in! I was starting to go a little mad when a friend bought me a crossword book. Pretty soon my determination to finish a crossword set in and before I knew it I had a beautiful baby boy.

"I learnt a lot by doing crosswords – now, six years later, I’m still doing them".

"I was scared and I was all alone with no one to talk to and nothing to do. One of the nurses gave me a book of your crosswords. It took my mind off the hospital and I felt so much more relaxed and happy.

"I find that crosswords still get my mind off my problems and often after a crossword or two I can think a lot clearer too. Things just don’t seem as bad."