Puzzles & Brainstorming Can Really Give You a Boost

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

25 Mar 2007 06:54 AM

Did you know that when you're really dragging or finding it hard to pluck up the motivation to do anything that a sound session of brainstorming can not only boost your mood, it can enhance it - creating an environment where you are more mentally and physically alert?

School Days

I was reminiscing the other day about when I was in school. For five years, I was in a program that started every morning with a series of logic problems that grew increasingly complex along with two-minute mysteries and more. During my recovery from surgery, various friends and family members picked me up different book games from word searches to sodoku to logic problems.

These saved my life!

Working on these different problems and puzzles gave me a great boost especially as my body remained weaker than I was used to and I required sleep in such great quantities that I actually wondered just 10 days after my surgery was I ever going to be able to get back to my normal schedule again.

Exercising the Mind

We've talked about exercising the mind before and the importance of brain fitness. But it's equally important to remember to hang onto your motivation and to keep yourself from getting too depressed. When you stimulate your mind, you create a sense of accomplishment and you boost your overall mood. Even as my body wasn't cooperating at the rate I wanted it to for recovery, working on the logic problems and more helped to boost my mood and my mental acuity and it helped - even when I felt helpless, it helped.

So consider boosting your own mood daily with logic problems, puzzles and more - even when you can work out physically every day, flexing your brain can make a positive difference on your overall outlook and give you a sense of achievement you might have been missing.

Do you enjoy puzzles of some kind?

Related Articles:

Brain Fitness: Did You Do Your Mental Aerobics Today?

Kids Need Brain Fitness, Too

Creativity Breeds Success in Fitness & Life

The Power of Positive Fitness Thinking

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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