Solve Sudoku Puzzles

Recently I’ve started playing Sudoku (the logic-based, 9×9 number combination puzzle) and I made a rather interesting discovery. After about 3 or 4 weeks I noticed my memory started to improve. Now, I am not a physician or brain researcher, nor do I play one on television, but I really think I may be on to something here that may be of benefit to a lot of people.

In recent years, as I’ve come nearer and nearer to the 50 year mark, I’ve noticed a considerable loss in both memory and the speed at which I used to recollect things. At first it was hardly noticeable, just a general inability to pull a needed word out of the air, but gradually grew into something much more. It seemed that far too often words were on the tip of my tongue and could never be isolated. And it started to get annoying.

I’ve always pride myself on my cognitive abilities and vocabulary, so this inability to move along as quickly as I once had was rather irritating to say the least. I always considered myself to be quite mentally active (perhaps to the detriment of my physical abilities) so this was a handicap I would surely rather do without… and then along came Sudoku.

I remember seeing Sudoku puzzles in the newspaper for years and never gave them much thought. I recall trying one once, and while I don’t recall that experience in any detail it was no doubt a more advanced puzzle that just put me off to the whole idea.

More recently I came across an easy Sudoku puzzle, and while the instructions said I should be able to finish it in 5 minutes it took me about a half hour. I was able to complete it though, and that was the turning point. The sense of accomplishment realized was rather nice and led me to seek out some more easy Sudoku puzzles on the Internet.

Within a month I was finishing those easy puzzles well within the recommended 5 minute mark and moved on to the higher level, medium difficulty Sudoku. Again, in the beginning they were quite challenging and took me much longer than the recommended time frame to complete them, but soon enough I was dashing those off in record time as well.

At present I am doing the highest level puzzles, many of which I can’t complete at all, an each taking an hour or two spread out over several days to complete (for those which I actually do complete). Again, those that I do find all the right answers to leave me with a great sense of satisfaction and achievement that keeps me hungry for more.

This practice has been going on for about a year now and the best part of it is that my memory has improved substantially as a result. My mind seems to be zipping along at earlier speeds and those tip of the tongue episodes seem to be more and more infrequent. As a matter of fact, those episodes that do occur often meet with the ability to actually recall what I was after with a minimum of strain… which is quite nice.

Again, I’m not a physician or brain researcher, but I think the implications here for memory loss, loss of cognitive abilities and perhaps even more severe conditions like Alzheimer’s disease might find some respite in the simple world of Sudoku. This is definitely in need of further study, which I intend to do myself (to some limited degree) and would recommend those more in the know take on this challenge… for the betterment of all.

Sinjin has been writing on various subjects for many years. Not only does he specialize in children’s education, you can also check out his latest website on Multiple Picture Frames which can also help you to find the best floating picture frames for your pictures, walls, & rooms.

How to solve a Sudoku puzzle

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Dellner Book of Sudoku Puzzles: Medium Level Puzzles $6.99 Dellner Puzzles presents their fun and challenging collection of medium level Sudoku puzzles….

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