8 Kinds of Puzzles for Alzheimer's provide effective therapy (2024)

Solving Puzzles is Good for Your Brain

Puzzles – perhaps the ultimate brain activity

Puzzles come in many forms and can be simple or extremely difficult. For this reason, puzzles are an excellent choice when looking for an activity for your loved one with dementia. Because they exist to be solved, puzzles provide cognitive stimulation, and that is just what we are looking for. Medical science continually shows us that stimulating the brain makes it better, even if that brain is damaged by Alzheimer’s or another dementia.

One of the nicest features of many puzzles is that they can be group activities. This is especially true of jigsaw puzzles. Picture, for example, a family sitting around the kitchen table, pieces of a jigsaw puzzle strewn about on the table top. These family members are working together to achieve a unified goal. Whereas games tend to foster competitiveness, puzzles can foster cooperation, everyone working for a shared goal, and this collaborative spirit can inspire conversation and socialization.

There are many types of puzzles, and almost all types can be considered appropriate puzzles for Alzheimer’s disease, or for any other dementia or cognitive disorder. It is not the type of puzzle but the difficulty of the puzzle that deems it appropriate or inappropriate for given audience.

We generally associate “jigsaw” and “crossword” with the word “puzzle”, but “puzzle” can also apply to brain-teasers; mazes; logic and mathematical puzzles; paper-and-pencil puzzles, like Sudoku, or the variety of puzzles found in our Senior Smart Puzzles and trivia books. You can find puzzles of most of these types in our store, and all are appropriate Alzheimer’s puzzles.

A puzzle should be fun for the person who is involved in solving it. A puzzle should not be too easy, nor should it be too hard. Puzzles that are too easy and solved quickly are disappointing; a puzzle needs to present a worthy challenge. On the other hand, puzzles that are too hard are discouraging; this is especially true for someone who is struggling with the effects of a cognitive disorder.

Unfortunately, it has become more difficult to get Puzzles to Remember in this time of Covid. Hopefully, we will return them to our inventory soon. On the other hand, we still have a good selection of dementia-appropriate jigsaw puzzles, and they are less expensive. And those we do have provide the same benefits.

A list of some of the best puzzles for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients

This is by no means a complete list of the types of puzzles that people with dementia might enjoy, but it does give you a good idea of the possibilities. The important thing is to find puzzles that correspond with the individuals abilities.

Shop Jigsaw Puzzles for Alzheimer’s and more

Puzzles to Remember is the line of jigsaw puzzles inspired by Max Wallack, and showcased by The Grammie Whisperer in the video below. (We love this young lady and how she took it upon herself to care for her grandmother who had Alzheimer’s disease)

Bright colors, beautiful themes, memorable subjects; Puzzles to Remember are designed specifically to be Puzzles for Alzheimer’s.

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Puzzle Books

Activity Books

Crosswords, spot-the-difference, trivia, missing words, mazes; all of these activities are fun and have a right answer. And all are cognitively stimulating. Here is a collection of puzzles with an appropriate level of difficulty.

SHOP ACTIVITY BOOKS

A cute video from the Grammy Whisperer

Related Research

Puzzles for Alzheimer’s

Susan M. Landau; Shawn M. Marks; Elizabeth C. Mormino; et al: Association of Lifetime Cognitive Engagement and Low β-Amyloid Deposition. Archives of Neurology online doi:10.1001/archneurol.2011.2748
Pillai, J. A., Hall, C. B., Dickson, D. W., Buschke, H., Lipton, R. B., & Verghese, J. (2011). Association of Crossword Puzzle Participation with Memory Decline in Persons Who Develop Dementia.Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS,17(6), 10.1017/S1355617711001111. http://doi.org/10.1017/S1355617711001111

The results of a clinical survey¹ of 65 elderly volunteers (average age 76) was published in the Archives of Neurology (online). The investigators at the University of California, Berkeley were looking for a relationship between lifestyle and cognitive decline that others have reported.
The team, led by Susan Landau, reported a significant correlation between time spent with cognitive activity, like reading books and doing crossword puzzles, and resistance to Alzheimer’s disease. They also found that the strength of that resistance to be directly proportional to the amount of time spent engaged in such activity. This was true across the lifespan, but protection against cognitive decline was strongest in individuals who were cognitively active in early and middle life.
They conclude that, “..lifestyle factors found in individuals with high cognitive engagement may prevent or slow deposition of β-amyloid, perhaps influencing the onset and progression of AD.”
See Also
Free Crossword Puzzles | BestCrosswords.com
A similar study published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society reached a similar conclusion, but one that is more relevant to people who already have dementia; “Our findings show that late life crossword puzzle participation, independent of education, was associated with delayed onset of memory decline in persons who developed dementia.”

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4 replies

Mark says:

November 28, 2022 at 7:41 AM

My friend makes puzzles out of mostly wood and metal. You have too try and take them apart. He has helped people in Nursing homes, with hand injuries in hospitals and drug addiction. They are beautiful pieces and made for you. Also used to give out in trade shoes instead of other throw aways. People love them and very good return for businesses who use them. They have their info put on them and the people call the companies back if they can’t solve them, then they are told more info about the company and given the solution. 70-80% return on the business connection. My feeling is they would be great for kids with cognitive and self esteem issues, people with hand issues, overall cognitive issues. Also
New studies show that Covid May bring out early dementia so could be helpful there.
Mark

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Erika Brady says:

March 26, 2021 at 3:16 PM

Alzheimer’s is the disease that my sister is most afraid of getting, especially since three of my grandparents got it. Thanks for explaining that crossword puzzles and other cognitive activities can help prevent this. I’ll let her know and find her crossword puzzles for her next birthday.

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John Schmid says:

November 5, 2014 at 12:02 PM

Puzzles are very good, as are games and a lot of other things. Let us know if we can help.

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Sarah says:

October 25, 2014 at 2:51 PM

Just found this useful site. My Dad has dementia and has been told puzzles are useful, especially crosswords. Thank you. Will have a browse.

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