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What is better for your brain: video games or crossword puzzles?

By Mallika Marshall, MD

November 3, 2022 / 5:46 PM EDT / CBS Boston

BOSTON -- Researchers are trying to figure out which activity is better for your brain: video games or a good old-fashioned crossword puzzle?

Keep in mind this was a small study, so we shouldn't read too much into the results. But researchers at Columbia University and Duke University followed 107 older adults with mild memory problems.

They found that those who were assigned to do crossword puzzles on the web for a year and a half showed a slight improvement in cognitive tests and less brain shrinkage compared to those who engaged in video games designed to stimulate the mind.

Larger studies are needed to confirm these results.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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