Brain calisthenics

In my family, I have noticed that the people who are the sharpest, even in their 80s, are the ones who faithfully do cross-word puzzles. My mother, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law in particular are mentally alert and agile in their 80s, and they all do puzzles first thing in the morning.

 Although I have intermittently tried over the years to do cross-word puzzles, I have never enjoyed much success. However after my PD diagnosis, I realized that I needed to exercise my brain as well as my body. So once again I tried crossword puzzles --ugh. Torture. But I told myself there are other types of puzzles. I have always liked anagrams -- so I went to the bookstore to look for a puzzle book of anagrams.

 While I was there I noticed racks and racks of books about Sudoku. What was this, I wondered? Puzzles with numbers only -- using logic and patterns to fill in the blanks. I picked up a level one book, and a 'how-to' Sudoku book. I reasoned it couldn't be any worse than doing crosswords, and maybe I'd stumbled on a puzzle I would enjoy doing.

 I tried to forget that the hardest class for me in graduate school was "Semantics & Pragmatics" (logic in Linguistics). Oh how I struggled in that class; logic has never been my strong suit. Even though my logic is still poor, I do enjoy Sudoku, although sometimes I despair of ever progressing past the intermediate puzzles. And when the Sudoku puzzle beats me, I grab the book of anagrams and do a few of those. Doing puzzles is part of my plan for life.
 

Exercise is good for your brain

It is not only our bodies that need exercise! "Use it or lose it" is true for your brain as well as your body. There are many ways to exercise your brain:

• Read a book
• Solve a crossword puzzle
• Write a letter
• Volunteer
• Meet new people
• Play a game of Scrabble

http://www.grandtimes.com/brain.html

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