Wordle isn’t the only game to help you stimulate your brain

Wordle has taken the world by storm, but as more people include the game in their daily routines, one expert suggests there’s more people should do to keep their minds sharp.

While guessing the word in a set number of tries might be satisfying to some, you still need to stimulate other parts of your brain, according to Dr. Robin Hsiung, a neurologist and associate professor at UBC.

“Wordle is a spelling game, so it may help with stimulating the part of your brain about words and spelling. I think it’s important to stimulate the rest of the brain with numbers games like Sudoku, arithmetic games, calculations. Then there are visual types of games like jigsaw puzzles,” he explained, adding there are also three-dimensional games.

“They all help with stimulating the brain in different ways.”

Wordle has exploded in popularity in recent months, though the free-to-play online game has been around since October 2021.

The game requires the player to guess a five-letter word in no more than six tries. People are then encouraged to share their scores on social media.

https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/1504128041760428032

“What we have learned is that puzzles tend to stimulate a particular type of skill. Wordle, it’s mostly with spelling. But if you actually play Wordle well, you also need some sort of logic because you get the cue from what colour you get right — if you get green, you know [the letter] is in the right place. If you get a yellow colour you know the letter is involved but it’s just not in the right place, so it helps you with some logical thinking,” he told CityNews.

Hsiung notes there are also major benefits when it comes to trying out different types of puzzles. Some, Hsiung says, can help in the prevention of Alzheimer’s and dementia in people who haven’t experienced cognitive decline.

“There’s a lot of studies now looking at ways to prevent dementia, and it appears that it works the best when people are at their normal range. It’s probably a life-long process, starting with young age,” he explained. “The process of brain stimulation is actually making connections. We call it a synapsis, which is the connections between different brain cells. The more you stimulate it, the more connections, the more synapsis you form in the brain, and your brain functions more efficiently by having more synapsis.”

Hsiung says while there’s nothing wrong with enjoying Wordle, there are many other games that are similar in nature but can help you.

Wordle was bought by the New York Times in January. The game was created by Josh Wardle, a Brooklyn software engineer who originally made it for his partner.

Wordle’s appeal has been in part due to its simplicity, no bells and whistles or ads or asking for your email address to play — just a website with 30 blank squares and a keyboard.