When you work on 500 piece puzzles, you’re doing more than fitting pieces together. Jigsaw puzzles stimulate many different parts of the brain, making them beneficial for all manner of mental processes.
Being under too much stress in the long term can lead to serious health problems. Doing jigsaw puzzles focuses your mind on a basic task that requires concentration and reasoning. As you work, your mind moves away from the demands of the day. Your brain shifts into the alpha state, the same one you’re in when you’re dreaming, and you become calmer and more relaxed.
Improve Work Performance
Solving 500 piece puzzles requires the same kind of thinking skills you use when tackling projects at work. This means that the more you do puzzles, the better you’ll become at facing any difficulties your job throws at you. For kids, this translates to better school performance and an easier time navigating the demands of homework. These improvements can be tracked over time as you begin to find it easier to work your way through problems and handle tasks of greater complexity.
Support Brain Health
By stimulating both sides of the brain, working on 500 piece puzzles exercises both creative and analytical pathways. Over time, this stimulates the creation of new connections in the brain both between neurons and between the hemispheres. Continued stimulation staves off common problems associated with aging including memory loss, dementia, Alzheimer’s and some forms of mental illness.
Jigsaw puzzles inspire you to think creatively as you try to match up pieces and mirror the picture on the box. Assembling 500 piece puzzles is especially challenging as so little of the image appears on each piece. You have to try different configurations to figure out which are correct. This process teaches problem solving skills that you can apply to other areas of your life.
Provide Personal and Family Fun
Puzzles have long been a source of family entertainment. Today, there are so many different 500 piece puzzlesto choose from that you and your family can find a whole collection of images that you like and spend time working on them together. Puzzle enthusiasts can find accessories such as portable roll-up puzzle mats that can be taken anywhere. As you put together each successive puzzle, both you and your kids will learn new skills and gain a sense of accomplishment upon completion.