Sometimes You Need a Break From Chess

For some reason as a kid I always loved these kinds of things:

 

     I don’t know what the fascination was but I remember getting a lot of puzzles like shown above for Christmas and spending hours tinkering with them even after I figured them out.    
     Our brains have two separate hemispheres with each one performing 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. How do you do that? Jigsaw puzzles! They help exercise both the parts of your brain. While working on jigsaw puzzles it has been found that there exists continuous activity involving all parts of the brain. This intense activity works to exercise the brain and increase their efficiency and capacity.
     The MacArthur Study has found that people who have been used to doing jigsaw puzzles as well as crossword puzzles had a longer life span and also had lesser chances of falling prey to Alzheimer’s, memory loss, dementia and other old age problems. It also affects our physical health by lowering our breath rate, reducing heart rate and blood pressure too. Alzheimer’s research shows that really what matters is novelty. Constantly exposing yourself to something new will help keep you sharp. Experts also recognize that changing about and doing different types of puzzles is better than doing the same type over and over again.