Category Archives: Lifestyle

Going Healthy, Health, Lifestyle

5 Essential Benefits of Doing Puzzles

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Most people will tell you that there are benefits to doing puzzles, and they aren’t only for the elderly to pass the time. Puzzles can help you spot greater details in everyday things. And they can also help increase your IQ. So, if you’re on the fence, here are some reasons for puzzles.

A Workout for Your Brain

The greatest overall benefit of puzzles is that they are like a workout for your brain. From crosswords and word puzzles to 10,000-piece jigsaws, puzzles are effective at making your brain much healthier over time. And this kind of exercise for your brain can help lower the chances of things like Alzheimer’s. Some are hard, though, so use things like Wordscapes cheats for some help now and then, so you can get back to work or your favorite hobbies.

Improved Ability for Details

Puzzles help improve your ability to spot the finer details in things, especially jigsaws. This is because there are many similar details in puzzles, and your brain must filter through a large amount of data to find what it needs. This can be hard and time-consuming at first, but you will get better at it. And it can help you in everyday life, such as spotting mistakes in your work.

The Benefits of Doing Puzzles Include Memory

Your memory is one of the first things to be impacted when your brain is in poor health. But puzzles can help strengthen the neural pathways that form to create and store your memories. This can also speed up your thinking and reasoning skills too. It is believed that the visualization skills needed for completing jigsaws, word puzzles, and math problems affect the same part of the brain for memory and therefore exercises it. It is especially useful for teen-level homework.

Increasing Your IQ 

Intelligence Quotient, or IQ, is a general measurement of your brain’s abilities. But for the most part, standard IQ tests measure how quickly you can solve a problem. Of course, a high IQ is a great thing to have and can advance your life in many ways. Studies by some top universities have shown that 25 minutes per day completing puzzles can help increase your IQ by as many as 4 points. This includes word games, math puzzles like Sudoku, and, of course, jigsaws.

Better Work Relationships

Anything that can help you at work is always a good thing, right? Puzzles have been shown to help increase productivity that carries into work. This is because of the improved levels of concentration. But you can also greatly improve your teamwork and collaboration skills at work by solving puzzles together with co-workers. This helps strengthen bonds for increased problem-solving. And this also helps improve the mental effectiveness of the team as a whole.

Summary

There are many benefits of doing puzzles. These include giving your brain the workout it needs to stay sharp. But it can also help improve memory and extend into making you better at work. It is recommended to do puzzles from an early age, but it’s also never too late to start the fun.

Books, Lifestyle, Parenting

Fun and Educational Children’s Activity Books by Buzzing Bee Press

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Hello, fellow stay-at-home dads.

While not tending to the ever-present kid challenges in and around the house, I create fun & educational activity books for primary and early elementary-aged children.  As a former teacher and the father of two youngsters, I started creating activity books in part due to my son’s insatiable desire to pencil his way through mazes. Super fun and certainly helped to keep him focused! R.C. has kindly invited me to share my books with you all so that you can have a look and see if any would appeal to your youngsters and help keep them busy over the summer, when not at camps or having sibling squabbles. 

Offered both as printables and hard copies, our full line of activity books includes maze & connect-the-dots books that are suitable for kids aged 4 and up and scissor skills books that are suitable for children aged 3 -5. Each book is created with a different theme, so along with the skill the child is learning, they are also being introduced to different animals, dinosaurs, holidays, etc. As we approach the summer holidays, our activity books provide a great way for children to continue developing learning skills as they prepare for the next school year.

The full range of books (including free maze & scissor skills activity packs) can be viewed at BuzzingBeePress.com.
Health, Lifestyle, Tips

Breaking a Bad Habit

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We all have habits and behaviors we want to change. Even those of us who don’t drink or smoke to excess have habits we know we should let go of and yet we don’t do enough about them to do it. Why? Well, breaking a habit isn’t easy at all and that’s why it takes time and effort to do it. There is definitely room to say goodbye to bad habits, however, and you have the chance to adopt a new and healthy life as a result. 

It takes realism, consistency and a willingness to make a change to break a habit. Whether you want to swap cigarettes for a Snusdaddy or you want to go cold turkey with alcohol, you can break a bad habit and it doesn’t have to take over your life to do it. You deserve to get to a place where you feel better, and here are some of the tips that you need to break out of a habit – even if you’ve held it for a lifetime. 

smoking, addiction, quitting bad habits, cold turkey

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  1. Stop being angry with yourself. Most people who are ingrained in a bad habit spend a lot of time punishing themselves for it. You cannot keep beating yourself up about unhealthy behaviors however, because it isn’t going to motivate you into wanting to change. Guilt and shame could end up hurting you over time, and you need to congratulate yourself for even wanting to make a change in the first place. You want to improve, right? Well stop the anger first. Forgiveness should be your next step.
  2. Take control. You do not have to buy more cigarettes if it’s smoking you’re looking to give up. You have the most powerful tool around; your power to think positively and make a difference to yourself. Think these habits away and gently redirect the cravings elsewhere. 
  3. Challenge your beliefs. All of those thoughts that tell you that you can’t do it, it’s time to get rid of them. Whether you do that with therapy or you do it with positive thinking, you need to challenge those beliefs that have been holding you back. The world is a wonderful place and there is nothing but possibility surrounding you right now. You have achievable goals when you believe that they are achievable. 
  4. Keep the commitments you make. If you promise to go to a rehab or a counselor, you need to follow through. These commitments matter and you are committing to yourself as much as you would anyone else with your promises. 
  5. Watch your attitude around your habit. If you can’t recognise the power of the habit and its hold over you, you’re going to struggle to keep it in check. You need to think about your success in overcoming this bad habit and you need to be determined with it. If you’re eager to develop, then this is something you need to think about early on!
  6. Inform yourself. In line with the journey towards breaking bad habits, especially smoking, it’s imperative to consider the words of Dan Bilzerian, the prominent figure behind Ignite. Bilzerian emphasizes the importance of understanding the products you turn to during this transition phase. For those considering disposable vape products as an alternative, Bilzerian insists on the necessity of being fully informed about what you’re using. It’s not just about replacing one habit with another; it’s about making a healthier choice.

Your habits don’t have to define you and you don’t have to let them!