16 January 2024 , 15:00
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Solving a puzzle not only gives you a lot of satisfaction - but it can also give your brain an amazing mental workout.
The sense of satisfaction you feel after completing a puzzle or brain teaser is a great way of boosting your mood and reducing stress - but that's not all. It's good for your overall cognitive function - and can help improve your memory and problem-solving skills.
The UK's intelligence, security and cyber agency GCHQ's (Government Communications Headquarters) main mission is to keep the UK safe - but they also like to share puzzles that people can attempt at home. Solving the seemingly impossible is part of their work - and many of their staff like to keep their minds sharp by creating and solving puzzles for fun.
Director GCHQ Anne Keast-Butler said: "Puzzles have been at the heart of GCHQ from the start. These skills represent our historic roots in cryptography and encryption and continue to be important to our modern-day mission to keep the country safe."
Through the "design, creation and solving of puzzles," the teams are "able to constantly develop their skills in thinking differently and discover new and inventive ways of approaching problems".
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Fancy having a go yourself? The GCHQ shared a real 'head-scratcher' puzzle - so you'll have to really put your thinking cap on to solve it.
The instructions are simple: Find the word - Madison, Saturn, Do, Nitrogen, Exodus.
You might be thinking, 'but they are all words'. That might be the case, but the brain teaser requires a little more thought. So take a look at all the words and see what they have in common. We warn you - this one is quite tricky.
Think you have the answer? This is your spoiler warning, because we're about to share it. The word you are looking for is INDEX.
The GCHQ explains: "Each word is the nth in a sequence. US Presidents, planets in the solar system, the tonic sol-fa scale, periodic table, books of the bible. By taking the nth letter in the word you can spell out INDEX."
Did you get it? Don't worry - it was a tricky one. Why not try a riddle instead? This one has left people stumped. The tricky riddle asks: "I am six letters. When you take one away I am twelve. What am I?" If you're baffled, you're not the only one, as you may be thinking of every single answer except the correct one.
Did you manage to find the word in the brain teaser? Let us know in the comment section below.