Solitaire is a popular card game that has been around for the past couple of centuries. It is one of those card games that despite being very old is still very much popular. One of the major reasons behind the popularity of Solitaire is that it came pre-installed with Windows XP and most of us used to play this game to spend our time when the internet and video games weren’t so easily accessible. Microsoft Solitaire brought Solitaire onto everyone’s radar and ever since then, it has remained quite popular around the world.
How games like Solitaire can improve your cognitive function?
Solitaire is a single-player card that most people play to relax and calm their minds. This game is known to provide mental calmness and help people to relieve stress. While Microsoft games aren’t popularly played as they used to be two decades ago, Solitaire is still very much popular because of the various benefits that it provides, especially its cognitive benefits. Below we have discussed a few points that explain how solitaire helps to improve your cognitive function:
Helps to improve focus
We are surrounded by distractions. Distractions are all around us and it is very difficult to isolate ourselves from distractions and stay focused. Everything around you is a distraction and the biggest distraction of all our mobile phones and social media. These two are the most tempting distractions that keep us occupied without doing anything that benefits us in any way. It is also human nature to sit idly and enjoy entertaining content, whether it is Netflix or TikTok but this content is only good for entertainment and doesn’t benefit us in any way.
Games like Solitaire that are proven to improve focus can help a lot. Instead of wasting time elsewhere, playing a game like Solitaire or Klondike Solitaire can keep our brains active and improve our focus which makes it easier for us to get back to work instead of spending hours doing nothing.
Helps with skill, strategy, and short-term memory
Unlike other card games which are mostly played based on luck, Solitaire is purely a game of skill and once you play it, you get to know that it involves strategy and skill. One wrong move can completely change the whole game and the game would reach a dead end. The more you play solitaire, the more you learn about strategy and skill, and you also get better the next time you play it.
And this strategy and skill that you learn while playing aren’t related to Solitaire only. Once you become an expert in Solitaire or play it for a long time, you will learn how strategy can help in various situations and this will help you in virtually any real-life activity where the strategy would be required.
Along with all of this, Solitaire also involves the use of our short-term memory. While playing Solitaire or any of its variants, you have to remember the exact sequence of cards for a short term and this improves short-term memory skills, especially with numbers.
Helps to calm mind
For people who are stressed out or they are too anxious, Solitaire can help calm their minds. Solitaire is known to have a calming effect on our minds and sometimes, it has been even compared to light meditation but let’s be honest, meditation has more benefits than playing Solitaire. Nevertheless, Solitaire can help stressed out and anxious minds because it not only keeps your mind engaged in an activity but also has a calming effect on your mind.
Some people say that if you are anxious, meditation can make things worse as sitting alone and quiet with your thoughts can cause you to overthink and become more anxious. This is a plus point of Solitaire, it keeps your mind occupied and inhibits it from rebelling or wandering here and there.
Allows us to take time for ourselves
Our routines have become very tedious because we are living in a society where our income is linked to how much we work, the more we work, the more income we are going to generate (in most cases). Due to this reason, it is tempting for most of us to increase our workload and neglect our health, which is why we rarely get time to ourselves and relax.
Working long hours is never beneficial for your health because it can lead to both mental and physical exhaustion. Physical exhaustion can be cured with rest or sleep but mental exhaustion cannot be cured unless you give to yourself and in the long run, working long hours can decrease your productivity and lead to serious health complications.
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But if you play mind-calming, relaxing, and brain-stimulating games like Solitaire, you will feel the need to spend some alone time. Solitaire is a single-player game and once you get a hold of it, you will feel the need to have some uninterrupted and alone time which will energize your brain and body.
