A decade ago, Words With Friends was the app embedded into everyone’s phone, but these days everyone is going wild for Wordle. If you haven’t played it yourself, there’s a good chance you’ve seen people you know post their scores on social media. For many people, posting their Wordle score is part of the fun. If you’re never played Wordle before, it’s a game that gives players six chances to guess a five-letter word. If any of the letters you guess are in the right place, the squares turn green. If you guess a letter that’s in the word but in the wrong spot, the square turns yellow. A gray square means a letter you guessed isn’t in the answer word at all. Clearly, Wordle is the word game of the moment, but does playing it every day actually benefit the brain or is it all just fun and games? Keep reading to find out what brain health experts have to say.
Is playing Wordle good for brain health?
According to Dean Sherzai, MD, a behavioral neurologist, neuroscientist, and co-author ofThe Alzheimer’s Solution: A Breakthrough Program to Prevent and Reverse the Symptoms of Cognitive Decline At Every Age, playing Wordle can benefit the brain—but only if you like it. “This is because there’s an emotional component to the game: stress,” he says. He explains that not all stress is bad and what can be a “good stress” for one person can be a “bad stress” for someone else. “If a person isn’t good at Wordle and it becomes stressful for them, it becomes disruptive, activating the sympathetic nervous system, which is the flight-or-fight response,” Dr. Sherzai explains, adding that this is not good for brain health. But for people for whom Wordle results in the “good” kind of stress—just a little pressure because you want to win and maybe impress your friends—then you’re going to reap some pretty amazing benefits. “Wordle challenges memory, mathematical skills, and problem-solving, and if you enjoy it then you’re getting the benefit of dopamine release too,” Dr. Sherzai says. Scott Sperling, PsyD, a clinical neuropsychologist with Cleveland Clinic, says that another benefit of playing Wordle is that it could create new synapses in the brain. “Although synapses are largely developed in adults, they can be strengthened by brain activity,” he says. “When we learn new things, or engage in cognitively stimulating exercises such as Wordle, we strengthen the synapses and improve brain health.” In terms of if Wordle can help protect against Alzheimer’s, Dr. Sperling says it’s not that powerful, but it’s still considered a pro-brain health activity when it’s combined with other healthy lifestyle behaviors like physical exercise and a healthy diet. “It certainly won’t hurt. In broad strokes, there are what I call the four main pillars of a healthy brain: physical exercise, a healthy diet, social activity, and cognitive stimulation,” he says. “The science is exceptionally clear that people who exercise their brain, on the whole, have better short and long term health outcomes than those who do not.” For what it’s worth, Dr. Sperling says that just because someone is super great at Wordle doesn’t mean they’re necessarily smarter than everyone else—something to keep in mind if you have a friend who posts their score on Facebook every single day. “It is important to remember that there are many different types of cognitive abilities and all people have different strengths and weaknesses,” he says. “Whereas some people are better at solving word puzzles, others are better solving visual puzzles.”
Other online word games to play
If you’re not into Wordle, both experts say there are plenty of other games to try that can benefit brain health in a similar way. “I tell all of my patients that what is important is that you exercise your brain, not how you exercise your brain,” Dr. Sperling says. Dr. Sherzai says that the most beneficial games to play involve different parts of the brain, the way that Wordle integrates memory, math, and problem-solving. With this in mind, here are five other online games to try:
1. Sudoku
Similar to Wordle, Sudoku puts both memory and problem solving to the test.
2. Happy Neuron
This online game targets memory, language skills, executive functioning (like reasoning and logical thinking), and visual and spatial skills. That’s a lot of different parts of the brain being lit up!
3. Left vs. Right
This app includes 51 different games that take about 10 minutes to play that fall into one of six categories: awareness, adaptability, reflex, reasoning, precision, and patience.
4. Scrabble
This classic word game benefits brain health because of the combination of visual processing and memory that it takes to play.
5. Word Search
Word search puzzles require problem-solving skills, memory, and focus. There are so many word games out there that Dr. Sperling’s best advice is to choose one you like. “People are much more likely to stay cognitively active when they are doing something that they enjoy,” he says. “Whatever that might be is the activity that they should be doing.” Next up, find out how foods rich in flavonoids can protect against cognitive decline.
Sources
Dean Sherzai, MD, behavioral neurologist, neuroscientist, and co-author of The Alzheimer’s Solution: A Breakthrough Program to Prevent and Reverse the Symptoms of Cognitive Decline At Every AgeScott Sperling, PsyD, clinical neuropsychologist with Cleveland Clinic
