We Asked 3 Doctors Which Brain Games They Play Regularly to Stay Sharp



Fact checked by Nick Blackmer

Doing a jigsaw puzzle can benefit the brain in multiple ways.Credit: Willowpix / Getty Images
Doing a jigsaw puzzle can benefit the brain in multiple ways.
Credit: Willowpix / Getty Images
  • Plenty of games can help keep your brain engaged, but it can be difficult to know which ones to prioritize.
  • Brain health experts say they regularly play games like Sudoku, crossword puzzles, and card games.
  • The best brain games are challenging enough to keep you engaged without becoming too frustrating.

Playing games can be a fun, easy way to keep your brain stimulated as you age. But with so many options, it can be hard to know which ones to prioritize for cognitive health. That’s why we asked three experts which games they play to help keep their minds sharp. Here’s what they said.

1. Sudoku

For a game that challenges several cognitive skills at once, David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, a neurologist and author of Brain Defenders, recommended Sudoku—a puzzle he plays himself. The number-based game exercises logic, attention, working memory, and problem-solving, he said.

Sheryl Martin-Schild, MD, PhD, the medical director for stroke at New Orleans East Hospital and CEO of Dr. Brain Inc., also plays Sudoku regularly because it provides just the right amount of challenge: “I enjoy the medium level, since I can feasibly work through them,” she said.

One study found that playing Sudoku activates regions of the prefrontal cortex involved in attention and working memory, and that the game could benefit people with neuropsychiatric disorders affecting these cognitive functions.

2. Crossword Puzzles and Other Word Games

Martin-Schild also enjoys word-based games like crossword puzzles, which she tries to make “fun by recruiting my husband to assist," she said.

Angela Hsu, MD, a geriatrician and consultant in the Memory Care Program at Kaiser Permanente in McLean, Virginia, is a fan of the New York Times games Wordle and Connections. Not only do they "challenge you to think in different ways, but doing it with family or friends fosters social connection,” Hsu said.

Word games require you to retrieve words and make associations. Research also suggests they may have longer-term cognitive benefits. For example, preliminary studies have found that completing crossword puzzles regularly could be a low-cost way to support cognitive function for people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

3. Card Games

Perlmutter likes to play strategy-based card games like Hearts and Shanghai Rummy. They challenge memory and attention while also encouraging social interaction—all of which can support brain health, he said.

Hsu recommended playing with physical cards instead of on a computer or phone. Handling the cards helps engage the fine motor and visuospatial skills, which allow us to perceive and navigate the space around us.

4. Certain Board Games

Perlmutter enjoys strategy games like backgammon and his favorite childhood board game, Stratego, because they require players to think several moves ahead—a mental workout for the brain.

Chess is another game that may benefit the brain. Although more research is needed, one study found that older adults living in healthcare facilities who played chess twice a week for an hour saw improvements related to cognition and quality of life compared to those who didn’t.

5. Jigsaw Puzzles

Perlmutter and his family love putting together jigsaw puzzles. "We just finished one that was a collection of family photos," he said. 

Jigsaw puzzles engage spatial awareness, sustained attention, and patience—all cognitive skills that can decline with age. Research also suggests that regularly doing jigsaw puzzles is associated with better performance across multiple cognitive domains.

What Makes For an Effective Brain Game?

While playing games can sharpen the specific skills they require, there isn’t strong evidence that getting better at games translates into better cognitive function in everyday life, according to Janina Kamm, PsyD, a clinical neuropsychologist and assistant professor at The Chicago School.

However, Hsu said some games are more likely than others to produce this kind of transfer. Research suggests the greatest benefits come from games that are challenging, played consistently, and adaptive, meaning they become more difficult as your skills improve.

“Your brain is moldable, like plastic,” Kamm said. “Anytime you learn something new, your brain forms new connections, which can alter the function and even, in very small ways, the physical structure of your brain.”

When it comes to choosing a game, Hsu recommended finding one that’s challenging without becoming frustrating. It's also important to opt for games you genuinely enjoy, which will make them easier to stick with, Perlmutter suggested.

Variety matters, too. Different games challenge different cognitive skills, so mixing them up may offer a range of benefits. “A solid brain game plan should be multifactorial, not just doing a puzzle every day,” said Luis Cruz-Saavedra, MD, a neurologist at Memorial Hermann Mischer Neuroscience Associates.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get our latest articles delivered straight to your inbox. No spam, we promise.

Recent Reviews


Are you struggling to find out the best source to learn the SAP HANA interview questions? I think you are at the right place to learn and explore the knowledge in the SAP HANA module. SAP HANA is one of the popular enterprise resources planning functional modules and designed to work using programming codes. HKR’s frequently designed SAP HANA interview questions help you to gain valuable knowledge and crack the interviews. So let’s get our journey with the SAP HANA interview questions topic.

Most Frequently Asked SAP HANA Interview Questions and Answers

Basic SAP HANA Interview Questions

What is SAP HANA?

Ans: SAP HANA is a high-performance business analytical application tool and supports an in-memory computing engine. SAP HANA is a type of ERP functional module which contains a front-end modeling studio that can be used for server management application developments and load controlling methods.

  Become a SAP Hana Certified professional by learning this HKR SAP Hana Training 

Why is SAP HANA a unique model?

Ans: SAP HANA is considered as a unique ERP tool in many possible ways. The reasons are as follows;

  • SAP HANA is the first-ever technology used for handling both OLTP and OLAP application processing methods.
  • SAP HANA supports the query processing environment for both structured and unstructured data sets. This can be used in relational database tables and structured data sets.
  • This tool contains a multi-core process engine used to process the data sets parallelly. The parallel process can be done using different columns of the same database tables.
  • Using a column database set, this tool optimizes the different data structures and very easy to store large amounts of compressed data sets.

Mention the two types of relational data stored in SAP HANA?

Ans: The two types of relational data stored in SAP HANA are;

What is the role of the persistence layer in the SAP HANA model?

Ans: As I said earlier, the SAP HANA ERP tool contains an in-memory management engine that helps the user to access the data directly without any backups. The persistence layer avoids the risk of losing important data in case of any sudden power cut off or hardware failure. This layer is also called as a savior because it stores all the important data sets in the hardware without causing any accuracy.

Mention the components used in SAP HANA technology?

Ans: SAP HANA is nothing but a collection of different tools and technologies. So there are 4 major components are available which collectively make the SAP HANA technology such as,

  • SAP HANA DB (database sets)
  • SAP HANA studio
  • SAP HANA application cloud
  • SAP HANA appliances.

Name the platforms which support SAP HANA?

Ans: SAP HANA supports the following various platforms;

1. Microsoft Windows VISTA versions 7, 8 servers 2008 (32-bit memory)

2. Microsoft windows operating system versions 7,8,10 servers’ 2008/R2 (memory 64-bits)

3. SUSE LINUX operating server (SLES) version 11 (memory 64-bits)

4. Red Hat Enterprise Server (RHEL) version 6 (64-bit memory)

5. MAC operating system OS X Mavericks version 10.9.

What is the modeling studio in SAP HANA?

Ans: The modeling studio is a building block of SAP HANA technology which performs the operations like;

  • Helps to declare which table can store the data in HANA, firstly it will get the meta-data and perform the data replication process.
  • Manages the data service task to add the data from SAP business warehouse and other application systems.
  • Manages the ERP instance system connection, the current version of ERP software does not support this instant connection.
  • Self-modeling can be done and allows users to use data services.
  • Offers essential licenses for SAP business operation data services.

List the compressions techniques of SAP HANA technology?

Ans: There are three compression techniques available in SAP HANA technology such as;

1. Run-length encoding

2. Cluster encoding

3. Dictionary encoding.

What is the latency?

Ans: In SAP HANA, Latency means the time length for data replication from various data sources to the target machine.

. What are the different building blocks used in the SAP HANA environment?

Ans: The fundamental components of the SAP HANA environment included are;

1. In-memory computing engine.

2. Database (Replication agent and replication server)

3. SAP business objects BI 4 (designer tools, data server designers, and data servers, etc.)

4. SAP HANA studio (Eclipse-based tool)

5. Clients.

Intermediate SAP HANA Interview questions

. Mention the role of the replication server?

Ans: The main function of the replication server is to manage the table data replication as well as table metadata from the multiple data sources.

SAP Hana Training Certification

  • Master Your Craft
  • Lifetime LMS & Faculty Access
  • 24/7 online expert support
  • Real-world & Project Based Learning

 

. List the architectural components used in SAP HANA?

Ans: The SAP HANA architecture consists of different components that make the system architecture.

  • Index system server
  • Name server system
  • Pre-processor server system
  • SAP HANA model studio repository
  • XS engine system.

. Name the components of an Index server?

Ans: The following are the important components of the index server;

1. Relational data engine

2. Connection and session manager

3. Planning engine system

4. Calc engine system

5. Persistence layer

. Explain sizing in SAP HANA?

Ans: Sizing in SAP HANA defines the hardware requirements for a specific SAP HANA installation process. Hardware components are considered as important for sizing parts of System CPU memory or RAM and hard disk requirements. The very tough task here is that estimate the size of the SAP HANA server that will be best suited for the user’s requirements.

Sizing in SAP HANA can be performed in three ways;

1. Using the quick sizer tool

2. Using the DB script

3. Using the ABAP report.

. Define the rows and Column storage in SAP HANA?

Ans: 

Row Storage: 

A row storage is a store that saves a series of records that includes the field of a single row within a table. It is a way to store data horizontally, similar to the data storage inside traditional disk DBs. 

Column Storage

Column Storage represents storing data vertically, where data is compressed into the columns. It helps to optimize read-write data operations and enhances the performance of the SAP HANA platform.

. How can you avoid unnecessary information from being stored in SAP HANA?

Ans: Users can avoid storing the unnecessary data being stored in SAP HANA just by pausing the replication to stop the scheme-related jobs.

. Explain how SQL statements can be processed?

Ans: In the SAP HANA database, each SQL statement can be implemented with the references to the transaction. Frequently the new session can be allotted to the new SQL transaction.

. What are the different perspectives in the SAP HANA studio?

Ans: The following are the some commonly used perspectives as follows;

  • The SAP HANA administration console
  • The SAP HANA modeler control
  • Application server development
  • Life cycle management in SAP server
  • SAP HANA development
  • ABAP module development
  • Business warehouse (BW) modeling.

. Define the SAP HANA system Monitor?

Ans: The SAP HANA monitor in the studio can be used to perform tasks like administering and monitor the system’s performance and availability of SAP HANA architectural components. Also, users can access the SAP HANA system’s details, configurations, and the services offered by different SAP HANA components. SAP HANA system monitor can also be used to monitor several database aspects like alerts, trace disk, log disks, data disk, memory, data volume, and disk space, etc.

Related Article, SAP S/4 HANA Overview

. What are the three types of information views?

Ans: The following are the three types of information views such as;

  • Attribute View
  • Analytic View
  • Calculation view.
HKR Trainings Logo

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new updates..!

 

. What are the types of SAP HANA engines?

Ans: The following are the three types of SAP HANA engines such as;

  • Join engine
  • OLAP engine
  • Calculation engine.

Advanced SAP HANA Interview Questions

. Mention the types of packages used in SAP HANA?

Ans: The packages in SAP HANA are nothing but folders which holds modeling related database objects. We call it a package because it contains all the information related to modeling studio in a complete package wise and later we can use it for transition purposes (Import/Export) purposes. This information may be of type information view, Sub-package details, analytical privilege, and procedures.

There are two types of packages used in SAP HANA,

1. Structural package

2. Non-structural package.

. What are Schemas in SAP HANA?

Ans: The schemas are a type of database element of the system which resides in the catalog node of the SAP HANA model. The relational SAP HANA database can be divided into sub-databases within the SAP HANA nodes. Schemas are like a container that contains information like element details, objects, or relational database details.

. Differences between OLAP and relation connection to the SAP HANA?

Ans: Let me explain the major differences between OLAP and relation connection are as follows;

Relation connection: Relation connection can be used when there is a need to access the conventional database tables. Relational connections can be created via IDT or UDT semantic layers.

OLAP: The OLAP connection is used to access multidimensional data cubes and it also establishes the direct connection to the SAP HANA business layer of the database model to the relational connection. These connections help users to connect to the database tables or information views in the SAP HANA.

 

. Define referential join in SAP HANA?

Ans: The referential join in SAP HANA is a default join type in data modeling. This join is almost similar to an inner join. The only difference is that referential integrity can be formed when you are using referential join otherwise it cannot be formed. Referential join can be formed between a fact table and a master data table.

. What are the SAP HANA business objects reporting tools?

Ans: The following are the business objects reporting tools in SAP HANA such as;

  •       SAP Lumina
  •       Web Intelligence
  •       Design studio
  •       SAP crystal reports
  •       Universe designers
  •       Dashboard designer.

. Difference between catalog and content node?

Ans: 

The catalog node acts as a database directory for the SAP HANA model and also holds the structured information about the physical objects.

The content node contains information about the design-time repository data objects and also holds the packages such as attributes, views, calculation, and analytical views.

SAP Hana Training Certification

Weekday / Weekend Batches

 

. Mention the different ways to create a table in SAP HANA?

Ans: There are two possible ways to create a table in SAP HANA;

  1. Command-line method
  2. GUI based methods

SAP HANA Tutorials for beginners get started with your SAP carrier 

. What are the types of connecting drivers used by SAP HANA reporting tools?

Ans: The SAP HANA uses the four types of connecting drivers such as,

  1. ODBO (OLE DB used for OLAP)
  2. ODBC driver
  3. JDBC driver
  4. BICS driver

. What is the transformation rule in the SAP HANA module?

Ans. These rules in SAP HANA are the rules and regulations applicable to managing source tables. These rules are also helpful in executing all the jobs on the table. Moreover, a few rules in this regard also benefit the replication process.

sight:

In this article, I have tried my best to explain the important SAP HANA interview questions with answers. SAP HANA is a type of ERP functional module and is mainly used in business processing applications. These interview questions with answers will help you to learn and crack any kind of complex interview. 

About Author

author-image

Kavya works for HKR Trainings institute as a technical writer with diverse experience in many kinds of technology-related content development. She holds a graduate education in the Computer science and Engineering stream. She has cultivated strong technical skills from reading tech blogs and also doing a lot of research related to content. She manages to write great content in many fields like Programming & Frameworks, Enterprise Integration, Web Development, SAP, and Business Process Management (BPM). Connect her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Upcoming SAP Hana Training Certification Online classes

Batch starts on
4th Jul 2026
Mon – Fri (18 Days)
Weekend
Timings – 10:30 AM IST
Batch starts on
8th Jul 2026
Mon & Tue (5 Days)
Weekday
Timings – 08:30 AM IST
Batch starts on
12th Jul 2026
Mon – Fri (18 Days)
Weekend
Timings – 10:30 AM IST



Source link