Word Puzzles and Board Games Boost Brain Health

In a WordsRated.com survey, 65% of US adults enjoy board games. What’s more, they benefit from a boost in serotonin, the neurotransmitter that improves mood and lessens anxiety. Half felt that board games provided them a social outlet while they enhanced executive functions like decision-making, patience, and critical thinking.¹

Boosting Children’s Communication Skills and Vocabulary

Scandinavian researchers analyzed preschool children who played cooperative as well as competitive board games. Both types elicited collaboration and prosocial behavior bolstering problem-solving, cognitive functioning, and academic performance while cooperative games gave a slight edge to handling impulses and led to more enjoyment.²

Indonesian researchers found a significant difference between pre-test and post-test data making it possible to conclude that Scrabble improved English vocabulary at a junior high school in their country.³

After noting a lack of student participation and involvement in learning English, researchers using Classroom Action Research method (CAR) studied students playing Scrabble to obtain data from qualitative and quantitative cycles. Their analysis of both showed significant improvement in participation and vocabulary.⁴

Board game benefits boost children’s skill sets through the grades. From preschool to high school through adulthood, challenges stem from testing one’s mind. Camaraderie with social interaction improves mood, fosters a focus on fun, laughter and anxiety reduction. As we age, the health benefits only climb.

Playing One’s Way Through Stroke Recovery

A 53-year-old male survivor of two strokes asserts that board games aided his recovery, especially from the second stroke affecting memory, executive functioning, reading and emotions. Playing helped vision and spatial awareness, dexterity and hand-eye coordination. Numerous jigsaw puzzles, Blokus, Connect Four and Dominoes helped fine motor skills whereas Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble improved the man’s memory. Progress s slow with one game daily but stroke survivors gradually build a tolerance for several games.⁵

Board Games and Crossword Puzzles Keep Dementia at Bay

Workman, and other publishers, target brain teasers, crosswords and word searches because consumers want daily challenge in calendar formats.

Source: Loriann Oberlin, MS

Stimulating leisure activities are considered protective factors against dementia and cognitive decline, particularly due to enhancement of cognitive reserve. Several professors at prestigious universities found that crossword puzzles showed an advantage over digital brain games in sharpening memory among older adults, around 71 years old, with mild cognitive impairment, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.⁶

The crosswords were of medium difficulty, the equivalent of The New York Times Thursday puzzles. The cognitive games included memory, matching, spatial recognition, and processing speed tasks.

Games have no real drawbacks other than logistics of getting a group of older adults together. Chinese researchers highlighted the interactivity of board games that arouse patients’ communication which develops social skills. Tangible props which are necessary for games strengthen touching sensation and hand flexibility.⁷

French researchers developed a Paquid cohort group from which they obtained 20 years of data. A French version of the mini-mental state exam (MMSE) was given as a measure of global cognitive performance, administered at baseline and at all subsequent follow-up visits with the assessment of visual memory, verbal memory, language, executive function and simple logical reasoning.⁸

The French research showed that board game players have a 15 percent lower risk of developing dementia than non-players. Players had significantly less cognitive decline and less depression. Since both are associated with increasing one’s dementia risk, board game play has a favorable effect.

The Chinese researchers noted that game players with an existing diagnosis of moderate dementia may face difficulty with role-playing or strategy-type games. The motto the simpler the better serves as a handy guide when selecting the right game for patients.

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How We Play Matters

Though games are competitive in nature and it’s good to do one’s best, gamers must remember that they all sat down together for fun. The kill-joy effect of a cut-throat player constantly challenging words or lording Boardwalk and Park Place over others is very real and the subject of research.

Competitiveness lies on a spectrum of low, middle and obsessed with winning, in every context. Most people recognize when fun veers into the unhealthy range because when enjoyment ends, contention often rises. I once counseled a sweet boy where I couldn’t understand teacher reports of acting out until I placed him in a social skills group. It was as if he wanted to take out his peers.

Studies have shown that being hypercompetitive or winning at all costs is linked to verbal/physical aggression plus the tendency to dominate, regardless of age. These traits may stem from parental rejection, maternal overprotection and/or residual anger. Anecdotally, we see that such behavior undermines interpersonal relations, harming one’s well-being and likeability.⁹

Mattel has produced a more cooperative, quicker Scrabble Together on the opposite side of the traditional word game.

Source: Loriann Oberlin, MS

In No Contest: The Case Against Competition, Alfie Kohn discussed how competitive children proved to be less empathic and generous.¹⁰ Hypercompetitive people value power and control over others. In studies, their responses exhibited a lack of care and respect for others.¹¹

In 2024, Mattel launched a new double-sided Scrabble board for those who find Scrabble too intimidating. With this simpler, quicker version on the flip side of the traditional board, it's reported that the company listened to Generation Z player feedback that they didn't care for the game's competitive nature. Scrabble Together, the first significant update in 75 years, allows for teamwork as teams complete predetermined goal cards by spelling words.¹²

In recent years, interest in word games has skyrocketed with alternative games like Bananagrams and Wordle, and calendars offer a daily dose of crossword or word search challenges.

Copyright © 2024 by Loriann Oberlin, MS