Want a healthy brain? Then do the crossword with a friend!

By Vivienne Parry

Crossword puzzle

Doing a crossword with three friends stimulates activity in more brain regions than completing it alone does

Most of us suffer from moments of memory loss — walking into a room and forgetting what you were looking for or grasping for the name of the person you have just bumped into on the street.

You could be suffering from brain anaemia, according to psychologist Jane G. Goldman.

She’s not talking about the nutritional condition caused by a lack of iron: she means a lack of new experiences and mental challenges that the brain needs to keep it in tip-top condition.

‘The brain is not too different from the rest of your body,’ she says. ‘It needs to be nourished.’

Without adequate challenges, such as learning a new skill or taking up a hobby, she says, our brain cells start to wither.

These cells (known as neurons), become less active and fire fewer electrical signals, and their nutrient and oxygen supply is gradually reduced.

It is to keep these neurons active and nourished that we are told to do activities, such as crosswords, every day.

However, Goldman says that sitting down and tackling a Sudoku puzzle on your own isn’t enough to halt this brain atrophy.

For these puzzles to keep the brain agile and ward off Alzheimer’s, you have to do them with other people.

We have evolved as social animals, she says, and completing tasks in groups stimulates and strengthens our neurons, boosting brain power and memory.

She suggests that just as we keep our bodies in shape with aerobics classes, so we should keep our grey matter fighting fit by tackling puzzles in groups.

She CALLS this ‘brainercising’ and recommends that mental exercises are done in teams.

Exercises include tasks such as recalling a string of numbers after listening to them being read aloud. This challenge is called digit span.

Professor Felicia Huppert, director of the Wellbeing Institute in Cambridge, believes there may be some science to this theory.

‘There are benefits to doing tasks collectively, as the social brain would also be engaged,’ she says.

And why should involving the social brain help?

Well, more than two decades ago researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium began to report that older people did better on memory tests if they did exercises in groups.

The effect has been re-tested several times with the same result, most recently in 2009.

Studies suggest that being with others encourages our brain to develop new connections throughout the brain, not just in one particular area.

So doing a crossword with three friends would stimulate activity in more brain regions than completing it alone would do.

The benefits of group brain activity seem to be linked to competitiveness, too — it seems we learn better if we have goals such as wanting to be as good as someone else. We also learn better if we are rewarded, such as receiving congratulations from others.

Here are some ways you can stop your brain becoming anaemic...

Red telephone

Withdrawing from friends and family is linked to age-related cognitive decline


Withdrawing from friends and family is linked to age-related cognitive decline.

An example of this is a U.S. programme called the Experience Corps. Volunteers aged between 60 and 86 work in primary schools, helping children with tasks such as reading.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University measured the cognitive skills of the group.

After six months they had gained as much as 51 per cent in brain skills, such as memory and planning, with the biggest gains seen in those who were most impaired at the start.

More important, these gains were accompanied by changes in behaviour — less TV watching.

The team at John Hopkins believe it is the direct interaction with others that was sharpening the volunteers’ brains and leading to this increase in memory.


A study last week showed that older people who did 40 minutes of walking three times a week experienced an increase in the size of their hippocampus — the brain area associated with memory. But exercising in a group may also have an effect.

‘In animal studies, activity in brain regions related to cognitive activity are stimulated only when physical activities are undertaken in group settings,’ says Professor Huppert.


Research has shown that being aware of sensations, thoughts and feelings for eight to 12 weeks can enhance mental wellbeing for several years afterwards.

In one study, volunteers were asked to listen to a piece of music, focusing on each note and any feelings that the song triggered.

A report by the think tank Foresight looked at scientific evidence from all over the world and found that being aware of what is taking place around you (called being ‘mindful’) is linked to mental well-being. It also helps with depression, which erodes mental skills.


Learning a skill and setting goals for yourself enhances the positive impact


Learning a skill and setting  goals for yourself, whether in a group or alone, enhances the positive impact.

New responsibilities at work, rediscovering an old interest or even making a new recipe can all have an effect. Learning is the classic example of use it or lose it.

We now know the brain can still make new connections in old age and that learning a skill increases the number of these connections and strengthens existing ones.


Significantly, the volunteers in the Experience Corps programme in America got an opportunity to give something back.

And here is one of the most surprising ways to genuinely boost your brain. Be a giver of your time, your skills, advice, even produce from your garden!

Brain-scanning studies suggest mutual co-operation is associated with more brain cell activity in the areas of our brain linked to reward.

Researchers say helping others gives us a buzz and this stimulation leads to gains in brain power.


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So many older people use the excuse that they are too old to learn new skills. What they don't realise is that a lively mind helps keep the body healthy.

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