For over 20 years, Will Shortz has been carefully editing those mind-twisting, memory-testing and sometimes incredibly frustrating crossword puzzles in The New York Times -- which, let's face it, some of us have yet to complete. And at 62, we think it's safe to say he's a fair bit sharper than the average person as the world's only academically accredited puzzle master, AKA enigmatologist. How's that for a crossword clue?
We had a chance to speak to the whiz himself to see if he could share a few tips for how the rest of us can keep our minds as razor sharp as his. Here's what Shortz had to say.
"I will solve literally any type of puzzle," Shortz told The Huffington Post. "Any mental activity is good for the brain but crosswords are particularly good because they exercise so many parts of the brain." Clues can test your knowledge on practically anything -- vocabulary, things you learned at school, current events, TV, movies and sports, to name a few. "Crosswords have a lot of deceptive clues, so you're twisting your brain." Forcing yourself to recall things from your memory is always a good thing.
Shortz says while there are many things that are said to be good for the brain -- like learning another language, which some studies have shown helps slow mental aging -- it's important to find something you can actually like and stick with. "It can be taxing and it's easy to give up. But with a crossword puzzle, it's fun," Shortz said. "There's a positive reinforcement every time you finish a puzzle and you want to keep doing it. It's nice to be engaged in an activity that you enjoy that you also know is good for you."
If crosswords aren't your thing, Sudoku might be for you. Shortz has written several Sudoku books, full of the number puzzles that consist of a 9-by-9 grid, further organized into nine equal boxes. Each box much contain each digit, one through nine, as must each column and row, without repeats. It may sound puzzling, but that's the point.
"Sudoku is different. You don't test your knowledge. Instead, it's a game of logic, but you are again exercising your brain in a logical way and you're also testing your carefulness and observation," he said. "If you make a mistake in a Sudoku puzzle and continue your logic based on a mistake, eventually you find your error and you don't know where the mistake was. It's very frustrating." He's right. The puzzles can be maddeningly difficult at a more advanced level, but making a mistake is the worst. That's why it's important to pay close attention throughout.
4. Exercise your body too.
Besides his passion for word and number games, you may not know that Shortz is an avid table tennis player and owns and helps run a table tennis center in Pleasantville, New York. "Table tennis is particularly good because, again, it involves so many parts of the brain," he said. "It's a fast-paced sport -- it's been called 'chess on speed,' and it trains your body to perform instinctively." In a heated game, you constantly have to revise your own game strategy based on your opponent, he added.
Shortz himself has been playing regularly for years. He says he's played over a thousand days in a row and hasn't missed a single session since 2012.
"A few years ago there was a brain expert at my house to talk about crosswords and the brain and I naively mentioned that crosswords exercise all parts of the brain. He corrected me and said, 'Crosswords exercise most parts of the brain.' Later on I mentioned table tennis and he said table tennis actually exercises every part of the brain that a crossword doesn't ... so between the two I get a full mental workout every day," he said.
You might imagine that doing the same task of editing and curating crossword puzzles for two decades might get mundane, but Shortz says every day is a challenge. "As an editor, I'm trying to come up with new ideas to entertain people in new ways," he said. On average, half of the crossword clues you see are his own. "I'm always trying to come up with a fresh way to clue a familiar word ... something to twist peoples' brains in an amusing way." It's something that's especially important as you get older, he says, as you slow down a bit. "I'm always learning something."
8 Easy Ways to Improve Your Memory
(01 of08)
Open Image ModalReady for a pop quiz? Before reading any further, focus on the words to the left for one minute, then read (or reread) another article. When you're done, write down as many of the words as you can remember and return to this page to count up your total.Find out what your score means... (credit:Lisa Greene)
(02 of08)
Open Image ModalHow'd you do? Recalling five or more of the words means your baseline short-term memory is in good shape. But if you came up with fewer, don't panic. maybe you were distracted by a text message, or maybe something else on the page caught your attention while you were reading the list (research shows that simply being unfocused can make it nearly impossible to add new information to your memory bank). Or maybe you just need to incorporate some brain training, which can activate and strengthen neural connections over time, allowing you to call up stored information faster.Gary Small, MD, director of the UCLA Longevity Center, who designed our test and uses a similar one to help diagnose memory problems in his patients, believes that certain behavioral techniques can help you stay sharper, longer. If you're perpetually misplacing your keys and forgetting to pick up milk at the grocery store, use these tactics to boost your memory today--and help prevent its decline down the road. (credit:Adam Voorhes)
Connect with Friends(03 of08)
Open Image ModalAfter tracking the social behaviors of more than 700 people over 15 years, Australian researchers found that those who maintained more close friendships scored better on memory tests (recalling symbols, pictures, and words). Being in regular contact with friends can keep you on your toes by engaging the problem-solving regions of your brain (as when you debate your latest book club pick or help a friend through a crisis). "It's important to be socially connected from a young age so that the lifestyle patterns you develop become ingrained," says Peter Snyder, PhD, chief research officer of the Lifespan Hospital System in Rhode Island. "We've found that when people prioritize these relationships, they also protect their brain function." (credit:Thinkstock)
Choose Stimulating New Hobbies(04 of08)
Open Image ModalAs long as it interests and challenges you, the particular pastime doesn't matter -- it could be reading books in a genre you usually avoid, learning to play an instrument, or taking a new exercise class. A study by researchers at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons found that people with more than six intellectual, physical, or social leisure activities were 38 percent less likely to develop dementia -- and with each additional hobby, their risk decreased by another 8 percent. The fresh neural connections established as you take in new information can help build up what's called cognitive reserve--the brain's ability to resist memory loss. And the sooner you find new passions, the better: A 2012 study conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, found that people who performed more mentally stimulating activities throughout their lives had lower levels of a certain destructive protein associated with Alzheimer's. (credit:Thinkstock)
Go to Your Happy Place(05 of08)
Open Image ModalMany studies have shown that depression is linked to memory problems, but keeping your brain sharp requires more than just staving off the blues -- you need to actively practice positivity. A 2013 study in the journal Cognition and Emotion found that older adults who experienced positive emotions improved their memory by roughly 19 percent. "Positive moods are thought to trigger the release of the chemical dopamine in brain regions involved in memory, which may help improve recall," says study coauthor Ellen Peters, PhD, professor of psychology at The Ohio State University. If you want to reap the same benefits, try practicing meditation -- one study found that the proven stress buster can help increase dopamine levels. (credit:Thinkstock)
Brush Up on Your High School Spanish, or French, or German(06 of08)
Open Image ModalA study from the Rotman Research Institute found that bilingual Alzheimer's patients began experiencing symptoms of the disease five years later than patients who spoke only one language. "When you think in two languages, your brain cells may be working twice as hard," explains Small. "And the more often you fire up those neurons, the stronger they get." But it's use it or lose it: "If these connections aren't reinforced regularly -- as in the case of a neglected foreign language you learned decades ago -- they fade," says Neal Barnard, MD, an adjunct associate professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. (credit:Thinkstock)
Use Your Imagination(07 of08)
Open Image ModalPicturing yourself completing a task can help ensure that you remember to get it done. Researchers at the University of Arizona recently conducted a study in which participants were asked to memorize lists of words describing personality traits; having subjects imagine themselves acting out the traits proved the most effective technique for boosting their ability to immediately recall the words. The findings suggest that this technique could work for everyday memory tasks, from remembering to return shoes at the mall (picture yourself at the cash register) to remembering to stop by the dry cleaner's on your way home from work (imagine walking out with your clothes). (credit:Thinkstock)
Challenge Yourself at Work(08 of08)
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