The New Senior Craze – Sudoku

Grandma and grandpa have found a new way to spend time lounging in the sun, it’s called Sudoku. No it isn’t a new form of Tai Chi or a new run drink, it is a logical reasoning game and it is helping Seniors stay active in the one place many of them don’t pay a lot of attention to, their minds.

According to the American Medical Association when a person ages they need to find exercises that they can do with there minds as much as they do their bodies. A game like Sudoku, which requires logical reasoning, requires a player to systematically go through the puzzle in order to figure it out. It is this practice that many doctors feel are helping seniors with their mental capacity. The brain is a muscle and it needs to be exercised just like any muscle. The AMA says that games like Sudoku can accomplish providing exercise for the brain. Because the game is logically based and it takes patience and reasoning to complete seniors are using a part of their brain that they haven’t been since retiring.

Senior citizen’s all too often stop using their minds as much as they did when they were younger. A visit to the local Senior Retirement Home and one can see what often happens all too sadly late in life, folks just give in to not doing anything except watching television. There are no challenges for seniors to take on that will help them “think” about solving things. For years doctors and psychologists used crossword puzzles for this however researchers are now discovering that puzzle games like Sudoku are helping in a greater capacity.

Many feel that the main appeal of the puzzle is that the rules are simple. Researchers, who are studying the phenomenon, believe that the line of reasoning required in winning the game appeals to gamers and the fact that you can compete against yourself makes this game perfect for seniors who do not spend a lot of social time anyway. Sudoku has been touted by some teachers as an exercise in logical reasoning and because the game can be geared towards a specific age group or experience level researchers feel that the game is perfect for anyone. The challenge of having to use logical reasoning is the key to Sudoku becoming a tool for seniors who want a brain stimulus. The concept that Sudoku and games like it increase mental activity is being proven in children as well as senior citizens.