Puzzles are like a workout for the brain. It involves interesting challenges to solve something or think creatively. And yes, puzzles are for everyone, no exception. From young growing minds to older people, all play various kinds of puzzle games in online or physical form.
In this article, we discuss whether solving puzzles on a screen or at a table is better for your brain. With such information, we are going to check how they affect our thinking, memory, and focus. Let’s check it out.
Understanding Puzzles and How They Can Help
First of all, let’s see a few important details about playing puzzles. It’s not just a pastime entertainment but an interesting way to train your brain.
Puzzles are more than just entertainment. They train your brain in many ways. When you solve puzzles, you use your memory, logic, and problem-solving skills. They help improve your concentration and keep your mind active.
Here are the benefits one can get from solving puzzles:
- It trains your brain to think faster.
- It sharpens memory.
- It improves problem-solving skills.
- It increases focus and attention.
- It lowers stress levels.
Well, whether it’s online or physical puzzles, both have the same benefits; indeed, the experience and impacts are two different things, though.
What Are Physical Puzzles?
Physical puzzles are the traditional way to play or solve puzzles. It could be in the form of a board game, challenging competition, or puzzle game that isn’t played on screen. You can actually touch and move with your hands. Some of them are:
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Crosswords
- Sudoku on paper
- Rubik’s cubes
- Word search game
When you play a physical game, your brain and hands work together to solve a puzzle. This helps in improving decision-making and hand-eye coordination. Plus, it also gives you actual experience of solving puzzles and keeps you more focused.
Benefits of Physical Puzzles
Here we are discussing the specific advantage that physical puzzles have over online puzzles. Solving puzzles physically might sound traditional, but they offer real benefits like these:
- Higher focus and patience: It takes time to solve puzzles or a crossword on paper. It keeps you focused on solving it and thinking deeply.
- It improves your memory: remembering the pieces and finding the clues is easier, and it trains your memory better.
- It protects your eyes: You don’t need to worry about taking eye rests, as you are not staring at the screen.
- It offers a real-time experience: you are actually playing it in front of you, so the experience feels so lively.
- It is perfect for family time: you can play puzzle games with your family by sitting together, discussing the strategy, and finding a solution together.
What Are Online Puzzles?
Online puzzles are the online version of playing them physically. You need devices like a phone, tablet, computer, and an application on it to solve puzzles.
Here are the places to find and play online puzzle games:
- A website like Puzzle Free offers many online puzzles in one place.
- Puzzle apps (Such as Candy Crush)
- Online Sudoku or crosswords
- Memory and logic games
- Word and trivia apps
Beyond the normal puzzle games, the online puzzle games have all the varieties, so players get a different experience. The good thing is that they can go for the puzzle game that suits their style and comfort. But all puzzles are to serve the same purpose of training minds.
With quicker responses and interesting animations, the online puzzles can also track your progress, which isn’t possible in most physical puzzles.
Benefits of Online Puzzles
Here are the top advantages that online puzzles have over solving them physically or the traditional way.
- It gives you comfort: the foremost advantage. You can take your online puzzles anywhere you go, as it’s all in your phone.
- It offers easy access: all you need is the right application that gives you the best experience to solve the puzzles.
- It offers the variations: you have many options available in terms of visuals, sounds, and ease.
- It tracks your progress: The puzzle games are recording your performances and keeping you updated about them. So you can improve it over time.
- You can change the difficulty level: as per your need, you can pick the easy, medium, or tough puzzle games while playing them digitally.
How Do Puzzles (Physical or Online) Affect the Brain?
Whether you play it on screen or on a table, puzzles are good for the brain. Both offer the same advantages when you play them with focus and mindfulness.
The left side of the brain deals with logic and reasoning, while the right side focuses on creative thinking. When you play a jigsaw puzzle or solve a crossword, your brain uses both sides. This further improves your cognitive function and improves attention and problem-solving abilities.
Playing your favorite puzzle game releases dopamine, a happy chemical that gives you motivation as you successfully solve the challenge.
Furthermore, you can also notice that your memory gets stronger after playing a puzzle game for days. Being involved in a game and solving something can also fix your attention issues and help you focus more on something.
Especially for a young mind, solving puzzles helps in learning things faster and encourages mind development. So overall, the puzzles are the games that are not only entertaining but also helpful in skill development.
Now, which one is better for you, physical or online puzzles?
You know that puzzles are good for the brain. But the question is which one you should pick, either to play on screen or on a table. Well, both have their plus and minus points that you need to consider as per your choice, comfort, and mood. But here are the comparisons that may help you make the one decision:
- Physical puzzles are better when you want to experience the real experience.
- Online puzzles are better when you to play puzzle games while travelling; you don’t have to worry about carrying the game with you. It’s all in your phone; with the right app, you can play it wherever you want.
- Physical puzzles are perfect for spending time with your family and playing games along. Online puzzles are the choice when you are feeling bored and alone.
- Online puzzles have various options, so you can download an application that suits your preference. You can also pick the game as on your level.
- Physical puzzles are great for kids and keep them engaged in an actual game, and they also keep them away from the screen.
- Online puzzles easily record your progress, so you know your achievements and can feel motivated by them.
How to make solving puzzles your ‘favorite pastime activity’?
We have compared solving puzzles on screen or physically. Now, if you wish to train your brain, you should take time and make it part of your routine, like this:
- Pick the time you are free, and start playing a puzzle game instead of scrolling on social media.
- Find the puzzle that you find interesting, which means you like to take on challenges.
- Go for the puzzle game or apps as per your preference and need.
- You can also involve your friend or family member to play along in your spare time.
Final Thoughts
We hope that we provided the best information about playing puzzle games physically or online. Now it’s all up to you to decide which one to go for. Just be sure that both have benefits and some weaknesses to consider. But you also pick the right one as per your mood, situation, and preference.
The overall point of solving the puzzle is to work it out in your brain and make it stronger. It’s just about balancing how you play or solve puzzles, just to stay consistent – because you are doing it for your brain.
