Wellness

Why You Need Puzzles in 2021

2020 was a tough year for everyone, so it’s more important than ever to develop positive physical, mental and emotional wellness routines as you tackle a new year and new challenges. As Americans continue to “Netflix and chill”, these new routines can help reduce stress and anxiety by finding ways to stay grounded in your physical environment.

One simple and effective way to incorporate more wellness and relaxation into your daily home life is through doing jigsaw puzzles. With COVID restrictions still in place, puzzles can bring comfort and stress relief straight to your living room or dining room table. In fact, a recent Ipsos study found that almost 60% of people sampled puzzles to relax, and 45% of people rely on puzzles for stress relief. Here’s why:

1. Puzzles Exercise Both Sides of Your Brain

The two hemispheres of your brain control different functions. The left side of your brain controls analytic and logical thinking and the right-side controls creativity. When you are working on puzzles, you are engaging both sides and giving your brain a real mental workout.

2.  Puzzles Improve Your Memory

Working on puzzles reinforce the connections between our brain cells  – and form new ones – so they are a great way to improve short-term memory.

3. Puzzles Improve Your Problem-Solving Skills

 Since puzzles require us to take different approaches to solve them, we learn how to work by trial and error, formulate and test theories.

4. Puzzles Enhance Your Mood

One of the brain benefits of puzzles is that they increase the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that regulates mood, memory, and concentration. Dopamine is released with every success as we solve the puzzle.

If you’re new to puzzling, National Stress Relief Month is the perfect time to check out this beloved pastime. Due to the sheer variety of puzzle images and piece counts — ranging from fewer than 100 to thousands of pieces — there’s something for people of all ages to enjoy.

Here are our favorites.  They’re made of wood which is new, sustainable and very cool. The animal images are stimulating and vibrant. Each puzzle comes in three levels of difficulty defined by the number of puzzle pieces and  size of the puzzle.

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