Playing a simple online word game on your phone might be a way to pass the time. But what you don’t realize is there are actually many life-improving benefits to playing these games. Here are eight benefits of playing word games.
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Improves Your Brain Health
Your brain is an important piece of the body’s puzzle. Everything you do is connected to how well your brain can operate as it communicates with other parts of your body. Like other muscles, it also requires exercise.
Playing word games can improve your overall brain health by boosting your cognitive function. This is what’s connected to things like your attention span and ability to make decisions.
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Enhances Your Memory Function
Certain parts of your brain are correlated to your memory. These include the amygdala, hippocampus, and cerebellum. But one part of the brain can be highly stimulated while playing word games: the pre-frontal cortex.
This part of your brain is ignited when you stimulate your brain through activities like word games. As it thickens, it improves both your short-term and long-term memory.
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Increases Your Self-Esteem
Learning new words enhances your vocabulary. It allows you to become more articulate when you communicate with others in a new way. Playing word games is a great way to build your self-esteem.
Not only do you feel more confident when talking to others, but it’s also a great mood-booster when you’ve accomplished something like winning a game!
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Reduces Onset of Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are when the brain begins to deteriorate. It impacts your memory, and reasoning, and can induce various personality disorders. While playing word games, your brain becomes activated.
This stimulation builds a reserve of healthy brain cells and allows them to connect more fluidly. Studies have shown that word games act as brain-training exercises which can help reduce the risk or onset of such diseases.
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Increases Social Activity
During the COVID-19 global pandemic, people were stuck at home and socially distant. They needed to find new ways to get human interaction. Thankfully, not all word games are meant to be played alone.
Some word games allow you the chance to play with other people, whether online or in person. This increases your overall social activity, which helps with mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.
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Improves Your Spelling
Playing these types of games can help to improve your spelling abilities. You’ll have the ability to learn how to take a word you know and spell it out correctly for you to have a chance at winning the game. This will then stick in your memory so you’ll remember how to spell these words in the future.
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Promotes Positive Competition
There is a certain level of competition that is considered healthy. Sometimes we get discouraged when we lose, but playing word games is a low-risk competition that can be against someone else or ourselves.
Positive competition teaches us camaraderie and sportsmanship. In playing word games, it’s not about the power of luck. It’s about your own set of skills and knowledge. By increasing your competition, you’re ultimately finding new ways to work on yourself.
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It Can Be A Great Way To Relax
On the flip side of the competition, word games can also be a great way to relax. Instead of distracting ourselves through scrolling on social media, we can use that time to unwind from the chaos of the day and play a brain-stimulating game instead.
Conclusion
Many benefits come from playing word games. You can improve your brain function, increase your memory, and learn something new all within the same game. Next time you find yourself with a little downtime, download a game on your phone and give it a try!
