(Published by: http://social-psychiatry.com/jigsaw-puzzles-good-brain/)
The human mind has two separate hemispheres or lobes called right and left-brain with each one dealing in different functions. Right brain deals with emotions and performs tasks holistically while the left-brain functions in linear fashion. When you are able to use both the sides of the brain, you will find that your mind power is harnessed to its best and gets better. Jigsaw puzzle helps you exercise both the parts of your brain.
Left-brain thinks logically and follows sequence while the right brain is creative, intuitive and emotional. When you try to put together a jigsaw puzzle, you harness both the brainpowers.
While working on jigsaw puzzles, it has been studied that there exists continuous activity thought the brain involving all the cells and parts of the brain. This intense activity works to exercise the brain cells and thereby activate them and increase their efficiency and capacity too.
There have been several studies like the MacArthur Study, that has found that people who have been used to doing jigsaw puzzles as well as crossword and were fully active stood to gain a longer lifespan and also lesser chances of falling prey to Alzheimer’s, memory loss, dementia and other old age problems. Brain produces a chemical known as dopamine that is chiefly responsible for learning and memory. The production of this chemical increases in the brain at the time when it is engaged in solving the jigsaw puzzle.
Working on puzzles and solving them provides us with very many helpful benefits. First of all it makes us alert, increases our concentration and expands our creativity. On the other hand, looking at the images constantly helps us practice visualization, which is again good aid for any physical activity that succeeds mental activity. It also affects our physical health by lowering our breath rate, reducing heart rate and blood pressure too.
Working on jigsaw puzzles and focusing on the same image for longer periods can actually turn out more like meditations and induce a certain calmness and peace in the mind. Mind will now be focused only visualizing the image in front and will concentrate on this alone in exclusion to everything else around him. Thereby he arrives at a meditative and peaceful stage where no other thoughts occur to disturb his tranquillity.
You get immense and long-lasting benefits out of doing puzzles on daily basis. It not only sharpens your memory, improves your brain function, but the clarity of mind and thought helps you clear out the clutter in your mind and the cobwebs accumulating over years. You then begin to see things around you in a new light are able to appreciate your life a lot better. You not only start finding solutions to your problems, but also begin to look forward to every day in your life.