Solving puzzles boosts short-term memory by helping you remember different shapes and colours as well as prompting you to visualize the bigger picture to figure out which pieces fit together. Keeping your mind active with puzzles is so good for memory they can even delay the symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Puzzles also help the brain think more critically and can even raise your IQ if you do them regularly. Finally, puzzles can help improve your mood since they encourage the production of dopamine in the brain.