Sudoku
 

Anyone use sudoku puzzles to help with cog fog and keep your brain in shape? A friend suggested it and I'm addicted. Although I love solving the puzzles, does anyone know if it really helps with our swiss cheese brains and all the issues that come with that? Just wondering....

Hey Kim,

I think puzzles help. I use all sorts of online games (Freecell, Diamond Mine) as well as Sudoku and crosswords. They've proven with Alzheimer's patients that "mental gymnastics" do help them retain cognition. So I figure it can't hurt me. I find the puzzles fun and relaxing.

I've heard that they are good for the brain. Anything to help my blonde, MS brain stay active is good. :p I got hooked on those puzzles last summer! Love them!

Anything like that that keeps our brain active is great for us, MS or not.

Here is a great website for a daily Suduko. http://www.uclick.com/client/apo/sudoc/

I do their puzzle everyday.

Thanks for the link. I just finished my last puzzle in my book yesterday and was wondering when I was going to be able to go get another one. Now I won't have to.

If you notice on there you can save one puzzle to go back to at a later time. Also, you can go to other puzzles from other days.

Have fun.

yes! using your brain to problem solve is good exercise! :wink:

i fell in love w/sudoku, too.... but cognition issues make it impossible at times. when i was flaring, i couldn't even focus on what the numbers were... and then there was the 'no desire' to do anything time... but now am enjoying playtime, seek challenge, and will "train the brain" while i can :cool:

thanks, sassyb!!!:wink:

Cool, thanks for the link! I started doing some here at work and figured if my boss gave me grief, I'd just tell him it's my MS Therapy. I started dreaming about numbers and grids this week.... :eek:

I enjoy sudoku puzzles. It helps distract me from the constant pain. I find it relaxing.

When I was on steroids alot in '06 I started to do them because I wasn't able to sleep. I still didn't sleep, but I sure improved my skills. :)

A good place to buy them are dollar stores, like Dollar Tree. For only a buck you get the same thing, and I'm all for saving money when I can.

:hug:

Definitely! I've been playing Big Kahuna for a while, and it seemed to help jolt me out of the fog from my last flare. Now I've gotten started playing Bejeweled... good stuff! I love all sorts of computer games, but when I'm really foggy, solving the puzzles in Myst or shooting demons in Doom just seems so daunting.

I took me a long time to figure our how to do sudoku. It was like I was hitting a mental block and just couldn't get it. I kept trying and soon figured it out. Now I love to do them!!!! I do the one in the paper every day and sometimes do a few in a sudoku book I have.

Kim, anything that taxes your brain for a little while will help you....

Try video games, word puzzles, number puzzles, play solitaire, learn something new....all this will help rewire your brain....

If you drive, take different routes.

Cook - try a new recipe.

Always clean in a particular way? Alternate, change, start in another room.....if you dust first, wash dishes first....

Exercise? Change your routine....

Keep moving. Keep rotating. Keep changing.

I agree that anything that exercises the brain is a good idea. I heard a doctor on the The Today show the other day say that your brain needs to be exercised as much as the rest of your body.

Now, about Suduko, I can't figure it out to save my life. My foggy brain just doesn't "get it". I can play alot of other games but can't get this one down. The other one I have a problem with is Text Twist......I can get the big words that you have to have to get to the next level but can never get the 3 letter words. Go figure?! :Hum:

hey Kinch!

another TEXT TWIST fan here!

I find it keeps my brain fizzing happily along, and gives me something to do during the enforced *rests* between chores (detailed in Tamiloo's thread elsewhere, lol)

here's a screen-grab of my favorite winning hand...

look at the two six-letter words, make a NICE pair, don't they?

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/4...lunrealex0.png

meaning, my NEURAL stuff is UNREAL!

:cool::D:cool:

Wow!!
 

I love test twist too but you are the best!! :)

I can't do Sudoku at all; my 82 year old Mom does them in ink!! :confused:

I love crosswords and brain teasers of all types but I just can't do numbers! Must be a math phobia thing I guess. I have tried the ones for kids and still struggle so gave up.

Cayo....that is awesome! What a score! I've only been able to complete the puzzle a few times but am no where near that score. You rock. :Bow:

That game has helped me a lot when I've had my worst cognitive problems. I'm a big fan, of the game & you. :hug:

muchas gracias, Senora!

Text Twist relaxes me, and really seems to improve my cognitive skills.

I am very glad DS-24-Matt showed it to me.

psssst! wanna see my BEST score ever?

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/8840/66666666nz5.png

(brag brag brag... but alas, NEVER managed to repeat it!)

:D:o:D

thank you so much.

looks like you and me are birds of a feather, Janie!

'cause I can't do number stuff at ALL, either...

and my darned sister was a MATH major at UC Berkeley.

words are the ONE thing I'm good at... I used to be an editor.

but I totally flunked out of Algebra.

and she's all doin' Trig and Calculus and *laughing* at me.

:o:p:o

I'm a retired Accountant, so I hate numbers games..:D

I play Word Whomp every day at Pogo.com. I play some of the other games there too. I like to do the, daily paper, Crosswords and also Jigsaw Puzzels online. I have several downloaded.

Exercising the brain is a good thing.:cool:

Text Twist looks like fun, where do you find that? I love word games too.

gamehouse has a free online play place:

http://www.gamehouse.com/onlinegames/

scroll down to fine Text Twist.

and good luck!

I love sudoku puzzles too and do believe they help with the cog fog stuff. I like the look of the text twist stuff too so will check that out. when i am having a day that is a bit too foggy to manage sudoku, i find online mahjong is a reasonable option too.

another game that those of you who like Sudoku may like is called Kakuro - its another number game but based on set combinations only in a grid. Have a look at kakuro.com

i play them all the time, totally addicted to them, has anyone tried a 16 grid one yet? talk about mind blowing, i have it on my ds(nintendo) my cell phone our computers, and a book in the throne:eek:

i also play kakuro its sort of the same u have to deduct what mathimatical combo goes in the grids

I hate sudoku. Haven't figured it out yet.

I'm pretty good at freecell, though...

Keeping the mind working is a very good thing. I highly recommend it. I think it keeps people alive.

I'm fortunate. I have a job that keeps my mind working - sometimes 24 hours a day. I dream about shuttle launch trajectories (I'm strange...). We only have a window of 2 to 6 minutes to launch on a given day.

Next launch is March 11th, by the way...

Tom