the best strategy for cognitive health is to keep doing new things—things that require new ways of thinking. If you never did crosswords before and you start at seventy, that’s great. If you’ve been doing crosswords since you were sixteen, there’s no reason to stop now, but don’t expect them to be a magic elixir that fends off dementia. Instead, find some other kind of puzzle you’ve never done—a Rubik’s cube, logic problems, jigsaw puzzles, 3-D wooden jigsaw puzzles, brain teasers. They can be frustrating at first, so it’s best to start easy. And stick with it.
