The Connection Between Sudoku and Mental Health

The mind, like the body, needs to be exercised to stay healthy and fit. One of the concerns we have, as we get older is losing our mental sharpness. Health care professionals recommend that we keep our minds active with mentally challenging activities such as reading, crossword puzzles, riddles, etc. We now have Sudoku in our arsenal of tools to help us keep mentally fit.

Sudoku is a math logic puzzle that looks something like a crossword puzzle grid. However, in Sudoku there are 81 boxes arranged in a grid that is nine rows by nine columns. This is further divided into three 3 x 3 sections within the Sudoku grid. Most of the boxes within the grid are empty. The others contain number clues. The puzzle maker arranges the numbers from one to nine within various boxes in the grid. The puzzle is designed so that there is one solution. The catch is that each number from one to nine can only appear once within each row, each column and each section.

Solving a Sudoku puzzle is a real mental workout. At first glance, the puzzles seem easy to complete. However, as stated above, the numbers from one to nine can only appear once within each row, column or section according to the rule of the game. This usually leads to one of two things: frustration and quitting the puzzle, or becoming a Sudoku addict.

Sudoku appears to have created a national obsession with solving these math logic puzzles. Since Sudoku's appearance in the United States in 2005, almost every U.S. newspaper carries a daily Sudoku puzzle. In addition there are also dozens of Sudoku puzzle books published every year. Online Sudoku websites and clubs have also sprung up on the internet. It seems that Sudoku is here to stay.

What does this mean for those of us who strive to keep mentally sharp as we age? In a recent study, researchers found that older people who were given only 10 to 18 hours of training in mental functions stayed mentally sharper for years after the training. The results of the study showed that people receiving the training showed significantly higher performance in mental function than those who received no training. Researchers recommended Sudoku as one of the activities we should consider in our mental exercises.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study used 2,800 people with an average age of 73. All of the test subjects were living independently in several cities throughout the United States. The study also followed the study group from 1998 to 2004. Whether challenging games like Sudoku can also slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease would be a worthwhile follow-up study.