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Are you a fan of puzzles? Maybe you have a daily routine of filling out a crossword puzzle or you relax and wind down from your day with some brain teasers or sudoku. Well, good news — it turns out all that puzzling is not just good exercise for your brain, it's also great for your mental health.
The Big Bang Theory alum Mayim Bialik appeared on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs podcast where she and host A.J. Jacobs showed off their puzzling skills. During one episode, Bialik, who is also a neuroscientist, broke down why exactly puzzles can have a positive impact on one's mental health after Jacobs noted that listening to the podcast is "good for your mental health" because it's "a stress reliever."
"It's very good to exercise this aspect of your brain, especially in a culture that is so geared towards instant gratification and algorithms and mindless scrolling," she said. "It's really important to use your brain; it's a little bit like a 'use it or lose it.' We know that cognitive skills like this are so important."
The Puzzler podcast aims to give listeners their "daily puzzle fix" as host A.J. Jacobs and his celebrity guests work through "new spins on old puzzle favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as 'Ask Chat GPT' and audio rebuses. Plus, Chief Puzzle Officer Greg Pliska joins A.J. each week to present new puzzles from the puzzle Lab."
Follow along or catch up on past episodes of The Puzzler podcast at iHeart.com.