Trying To Solve Tricky Riddles Is A Great Activity For The Elderly

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jason_Bacot]Jason Bacot
It is a proven medical fact that as we get older, our brains begin to slow down and not function as well as they once did. It is also a proven medical fact that if you keep your brain engaged working on difficult projects; you can maintain a high level of thinking capacity for much longer period of time. For that very reason, it is recommended that the elderly work daily on trying to solve tricky riddles.
Regardless of a person's age, when you first start trying to solve riddles, you want to begin with easy riddles. If you start with the real brain teasers, it will be almost impossible for you to come up with even one correct answer.
Most of the experts that practice this activity have developed their own techniques for solving hard riddles. While each and everyone are a little different, they do have certain principles that they utilize which are very similar.
Most great riddle solvers will tell you that the most important thing that they do when they first sit down and try to come up with an answer is to read the riddle extremely carefully. They also tend to read a riddle many times, before they even start trying to think about an answer for it.
They do this for many reasons, one of which is that they try and get into the writers head and figure out where the riddle is heading. These professionals already fully realize that the obvious response is always going to be wrong. They know that the author is trying to push you in one direction, but you really need to be heading down a much different path.
They will ask themselves many questions, such as "Why did the writer use this word, instead of that one"? Or, "What are all of the possible not so obvious alternatives that I should to consider"?
Being able to consistently come up with correct riddle answers is not easy, but it can be done. The longer you practice at it, the better you get. It is kind of like sitting down and doing a crossword puzzle for the first time. Very few, if any people ever succeed at getting all of the words correct, until they have been doing them for a while.
Solving riddles for people that are in their twilight years is a fantastic way for them to have some fun, while at the same time forcing them to use their brains in an intense fashion. Some of them will get frustrated when they first start because they cannot come up with the answers, but if they stick at it for a while, most of them will eventually get the hang of it.
If you have a friend, loved one, or an associate that needs something to do with their spare time, learning how to solve riddles is a great way to occupy it. Please remember to start with the easy ones, and then gradually work your way up to tricky riddles.
Are the [http://www.iriddles.org]Riddles you're used to solving a little too easy for you? If so, I suggest you check out our newer and harder [http://www.iriddles.org/riddles/]Riddle List online at iRiddles.org, where they are much harder.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Trying-To-Solve-Tricky-Riddles-Is-A-Great-Activity-For-The-Elderly&id=6536617] Trying To Solve Tricky Riddles Is A Great Activity For The Elderly