Is Playing Wordle An Effective Brain Workout?

Written By:

Word games like Wordle improve mental health.
Wordle is thought to make brains sharper and improve skills like problem solving.

The latest trend over social media shows how people have embraced the Wordle game and it is proving to be a brilliant brain workout.

What Is Wordle?

Wordle is a word-game app where you have to guess a five-letter word within six attempts. It uses color blocks to denote specific actions when the game is being played. For instance, a yellow block means you have entered a correct letter in the wrong position in the Wordle word.

It is available in multiple languages and can be played by anyone who likes word games or wants to enrich their vocabulary.

How Does Wordle Improve Mental Health?

Wordle stimulates our brain so well that it has made its way into mental health news. Word games, crosswords, and puzzles generally improve selective functions in the brain and prevent cognitive decline. It also helps us to build interpersonal and social skills.

Dr. Douglas Scharre, a neurologist at the Ohio State University, explains, “[these] games, especially those involving novelty, can stimulate and challenge key parts of the brain, including reasoning, language, logic, visual perception, attention, and flexibility.”

Experts have noted that brain games like Wordle improve mental health by inducing positive feelings and helping us de-stress. Its digital technology relies on variety, problem-solving, and mastery experiences to make our brains sharper. Research shows that it helps to combat negative feelings like loneliness, sadness, and dissociation in some groups, like elderly people.

The aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed how our unhealthy reliance on the internet and digital devices has resulted in skyrocketing rates of cyber addiction. In this world, the goodwill of the makers of Wordle is thoughtful and altruistic.

A “Word” Of Caution?

However, like any other game, over-dependence on Wordle can lead to gaming addiction and disrupt our everyday lives. Experts also caution us against signaling out Wordle as the only game that benefits our mental health.

Drew Altschul, a psychologist at the University of Edinburgh, stated, “Wordle requires thought, reliance on memory as you think of words, letters or arrangements you’ve used. So its positive effects will be the same as other games.”

Therefore, we should be open to a variety of brain games, not just Wordle, to improve our brainpower.