One of our residents – Marius Kritzinger, at The Somerset Lifestyle and Retirement Village in Somerset West, wrote:

“As a toddler, most of us have been introduced to simple jigsaw puzzles consisting of only a few large pieces of different shapes and colours. Puzzles play a very important part not only in a child’s cognitive development but also help teach a child about choices and strategy.

The first jigsaw puzzle was created in 1760 by a London cartographer and engraver named John Spilsbury who is credited with commercialising puzzling. Since Covid hit the world in 2019, the building of jigsaw puzzles has become a worldwide hobby practiced by millions of dissectologists.

A dissectologist is a person who has a passion for solving jigsaw puzzles and derives great pleasure from the process. The same trend has hit South Africa where sales of different imported and local brands of jigsaw puzzles at hobby shops, stationery outlets, and on-line stores like Takealot, have boomed. This again has led to the forming of a number of specific social media groups where dissectologists swop and sell their finished puzzles amongst their members. The building of jigsaw puzzles, like the completion of crossword puzzles and Sudoku, provides older persons the opportunity to use and improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

The most important benefits of building jigsaw puzzles for senior citizens are the following: 

Exercises both sides of your brain.

Our brain has two sides; the left side controls the objective, methodical, and logical processes, while the right side works with creativity, intuitive thinking, and emotions. Completing jigsaw puzzles requires input from both sides of the brain and as a result, increases memory power and sharpens the mind.

Enhancing short-term memory.

A problem for all of us is the loosing of short-term memory. Solving a jigsaw puzzle connects the brain cells and improves the mental speed to think or recall memories.

Raising your concentration levels and attention to detail.

When building the puzzle you have to put your whole mind to it – which sizes, colours, and shapes are you looking for, and many times a crucial point comes when two nearly similar pieces will confuse you, this is the time to sharpen your concentration and not getting frustrated and giving up.

Improving your problem-solving ability.

This is one of the best and most useful benefits of puzzling. Our daily life consists of decisions we have to make and more than often fear of making the wrong decision, kicks in. Puzzling is a choice process because there are so many variants and options to choose from and you have to decide how to solve this problem. When opening a new jigsaw puzzle you have bought, you will be confronted with a bag filled with hundreds or thousands of small pieces of different colours, shapes, and sizes. Now it is decision-making time. How are you going to convert this chaotic mess of scrambled pieces into the finished product pictured on the outside of the puzzle box?

Serves as meditation and relieves stress.

Concentrating on the challenge to pick the right pieces is cutting off all stressors and this improves the brain functions and intensifies blood flow.

Improves Virtual-Spatial Reasoning.

Completing a jigsaw puzzle is a game where you have to think about every individual piece while you try to solve it. You have to think about where each particular piece is supposed to fit and how to make the match with the other pieces. The further benefits of this are to help you drive a car, use a map, pack bags and luggage, and even learn dance moves.

Relieves stress by entering a meditative state.

Puzzling stimulates the brain while allowing you to rest your mind and enter a meditative state. Meditation is when you focus your concentration on a single jigsaw piece for several minutes at a time while closing your mind to other thoughts.  You will feel relieved of any tension and the resulting sense of calm will assist in lowering your heart rate and blood pressure.

Enable a regular sleeping pattern.

Insomnia and restlessness at night could be the result of watching a late-night movie or watching something on your mobile phone or laptop. Puzzle building has the opposite effect. Because you engage your brain fully when doing that, your brain gets tired naturally and this enhances a good night’s sleep. It even gets better when you have successfully completed a puzzle just before bedtime when your brain releases dopamine responsible for happiness and relaxation.

Live a longer and healthier life?

It is claimed by a number of scientists that people who solve jigsaw and crossword puzzles live longer and are less likely to get Alzheimer’s disease and memory loss.

Building jigsaw puzzles is an entertaining and interesting way of engaging senior citizens. It offers mental, social, and physical health benefits. From keeping them busy and uplifting their mood to enhancing their problem-solving skills, this great pastime brings relief to the retirees and elderly in society and also to their loved ones and caregivers.

Personally, I cannot think of a more productive and mind-boggling way to spend the cold and wet winter which is upon us!”

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