Habit & wellness
The research on focus, working memory, and why a daily puzzle habit sticks better than most brain-training apps.
A puzzle as an attention break at work
Whether a fifteen-minute Sudoku makes you sharper at work is the kind of claim productivity blogs love. The honest take, with the evidence.
5 min read
Puzzles and sleep — what we know and what we don't
Sudoku before bed: focused enough to wind you down, or alert enough to keep you up? What sleep research can and can't tell us.
5 min read
Puzzling and mood — the careful claims
Sudoku as a small lift on a low day. What we can honestly say, what we can't, and where the evidence runs out.
6 min read
The dementia question, and what the evidence actually shows
Whether Sudoku helps prevent dementia is a fair question. The honest answer, with the trials that have tried to settle it.
7 min read
The difficulty curve and what each tier actually trains
Easy versus extreme isn't just harder — it's a different kind of cognitive effort. What changes across the tiers, honestly framed.
6 min read
The fifteen-minute window — why shorter sessions often land harder
A daily fifteen-minute Sudoku tends to outlast a weekly hour-long session. Why short, frequent practice usually wins.
5 min read
Morning puzzle versus evening puzzle
When in the day you do your Sudoku changes the puzzle. Which time fits which mood, and how to pick the right one for the day.
5 min read
The puzzle as a quiet space in the day
What a daily Sudoku does that fifteen minutes of phone scrolling doesn't — and why a small structured ritual holds up better than the alternatives.
5 min read
The streak trap
Streaks help motivation until they don't — when a daily-puzzle streak starts hurting your relationship with the puzzle, and how to do streaks better.
5 min read
A month of Sudoku, and what it actually does
An honest week-by-week account of what changes in your puzzling — and what doesn't — across thirty days of daily play.
5 min read
How to walk away when you're stuck
Walking away from a Sudoku is a technique, not a failure — when to do it, why it works, and how to come back to the puzzle.
4 min read
The narrow transfer problem
Why getting better at Sudoku makes you better at Sudoku — and what cognitive psychology actually says about the narrow transfer problem.
6 min read
What changes in puzzling after 60
What cognitive science actually says about ageing brains, why most of it is more reassuring than the headlines, and where Sudoku fits in honestly.
6 min read
What the research actually says about puzzles and the brain
What the research actually says about Sudoku, puzzles, and the brain — what's evidence-backed, what's overclaimed, and what's reasonable.
6 min read