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Puzzles:
Cure for Sleeplessness?
Puzzles,
such as jigsaw and crossword puzzles, are great brain exercise.
They challenge and stimulate the logic, creativity and memory
centers of your brain. And this can cause your brain to induce
deeper sleep at night to recouperate from the mental "workout."
Many years ago during a weeks-long bout of insomnia, I assembled
a large jigsaw puzzle. I spent a couple of hours on it a day
for a couple of weeks. I found working on it to be extremely
challenging mentally, requiring my complete concentration
and focus. (It was also fun and rewarding!)
I slept better than usual for those couple of weeks. At the
time, unfortunately, I did not put two and two together and
realize that it was the puzzle was that was likely allowing
me to sleep better.
But now I understand the importance that strong mentally activity
has on sleep. Now, if the quality of my sleep starts to suffer,
I take steps to make sure that my mind is getting enough good
work during the day. And puzzles are always an excellent way
to get this good mental work.
Below is a list of some popular puzzles and a brief description
of each. Do one today and don't be surprised if you sleep
at least a little bette tonight.
Crossword
A crossword is a word puzzle that usually is in the form of
a square grid of black and white squares. The object is to fill
in the white squares with letters to form words or phrases by
solving clues that are provided which lead to answers.
Jigsaw
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that is assembled through
the use of many small, often oddly shaped, interlocking pieces.
Each jigsaw puzzle piece has a small part of a picture on it.
When fully assembled the puzzle shows a picture.
Puzz-3D
Puzz-3D is the brand name of three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles.
Puzz-3d puzzles are made on plastic foam with some of an image
put on a paper facade. This facade is glued to the underlying
foam piece and crafted to match the dimensions of the piece.
When the pieces are assembled, they create something complete,
such as a building.
n-puzzle (Fifteen puzzle)
The n-puzzle is a sliding puzzle that has a grid of numbered
squares with a square missing, and the labels on the squares
are jumbled. To win, one must unjumble the squares by making
moves that put the squares into the empty space which shows
an additional empty space in the position of the moved piece.
Kakuro
Kakkuro is a logic-related puzzle that' usually referred to
as a mathematical version of the crossword puzzle. Kakuro puzzles
are regularly featured in math-and-logic puzzle publications.
Nonograms (Gridders, Paint by numbers)
Nonograms are picture logic puzzles. It provides cells in a
grid that have to be colored or left blank according to numbers
given to you on the side to reveal a hidden illustration.
Rubik's Cube
Rubik's Cube is a famous mechanical puzzle. Each face of a Cube
is covered by nine stickers of one of six colors. When you solve
the puzzle, each face of the Cube is a solid color.
Seven Bridges of Konigsberg
The Seven Bridges of Konigsberg is a math-related problem inspired
by a real place and situation. The city of Konigsberg, Prussia
(today Kaliningrad, Russia) is located on the Pregel River,
and includes two islands that are connected to one another and
to the mainland by seven bridges. The object is to determine
if one can walk a route that crosses each bridge only once.
Spot the Difference
Spot the Difference is a puzzle the provides two versions of
an image shown side by side, and you must find any differences
between them. This can be fun for kids and adults alike.
Tangram
Tangram is considered a dissection puzzle that consists of seven
pieces or tans. They combine together to form a shape. The goal
is to form a shape with the seven pieces and the pieces must
not overlap.
Tower of Hanoi
Tower of Hanoi (aka Towers of Hanoi) is a math-related puzzle.
It consists of three pegs and several different sized disks
that can slide onto any peg. The puzzle begins with the disks
stacked in order of size on a peg, with the smallest disk at
the top. The goal of the puzzle is to move the whole stack to
another peg, while not breaking the rules.
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