Why puzzling is very good for your health

Before we found ourselves in the situation we are in now, being busy and having stress was completely of this time.

We are all busy with a lot and doing a lot and setting the bar for ourselves higher than ever. Moreover, thanks to our phones, we are always on. We read the news while we pee and we text with friends about pregnancies and life while getting coffee (or actually: used to get) at work. You can buy your new house during your lunch break and spend half your salary on a Louis Vuitton bracelet while standing in line at the supermarket. Those phones make it so that we can do a lot in many places. That is practical, sometimes incredibly handy, but unnoticed also dangerous. This leads to increasing busyness and stress.

So what you can do better instead of watching 82 useless Stories from half strangers: puzzle. Yes, you know, the old-fashioned way of putting one puzzle piece next to another fitting puzzle piece. It is good mental training for the brain and it keeps you sharp. And also try working with your children's Lego. According to the creators, Lego is the way to combat depression. Creating something beautiful that you are proud of ensures that your brain produces substances that make you happy. Just trust us, just try it. You'll see that you relax immediately because you finally don't have to and must do anything.

Even more handy hobbies that make you feel a lot more relaxed:

1. Playing card games and not on your phone. They help you learn to focus.
2. Doing crossword puzzles and just the old-fashioned ones from a booklet. Research shows that you can combat dementia if you do four a week, so hop, go for it.
3. Sudoku also helps against mental decline. You stay a bit of a sharp elderly person, so to speak.
4. Checkers promotes cognitive performance. In other words: it makes you smarter.
5. A game of bridge could even help boost your immune system.
6. A lot of chess makes you more creative.
7. Playing an instrument (no, this is not a riddle, I mean a flute or a guitar) leads to better memory.
8. And if you find all this incredibly uninteresting sleeping is also good for your brain. That should be doable, right?