How many times have we heard people talk about those who love gaming and complain that they are not out getting some fresh air, or doing something that is a little more active. Whilst there is of course some truth to what they say, and we should certainly not spend hours upon hours inside our bedrooms button bashing, there is more to gaming than meets the eye. Gaming actually can be very beneficial to your health and today we are going to look into just how. Whether you like to play strategy or action games, in doing so you are actually improving your health, and here is how.
Social
Being social no longer means what it once used to, and this is something which the older generation do struggle with. The truth is that being social these days is not about meeting friends for a coffee or heading out to a restaurant with people, social these days exists online. With this, we can see that those people who play online games and team up with people or even play against other people around the world, can actually greatly help to improve general social skills.
Brain Function
Believe it or not, playing on games can actually increase your overall brain function. Just over a decade ago, German researchers found that adults who played the N64 version of Super Mario for just 30 minutes a day, had huge increases in their brain function compared to those who did not. Evidence of this increase was found in different areas of the brain, which the researchers said were “brain areas crucial for spatial navigation, strategic planning, working memory and motor performance”. Well we can’t argue with that now can we?
Improving Your Vision
You will know only too well that playing on action games needs you to have a great deal of focus, and they also require you to be alert. Recent studies have found that those who play action games can actually have better vision than those who do not, especially when it comes to recognizing small letters and objects.
Basic Motor Skills
The basic motor skills which we have relate to aspect like hand-eye coordination and basic movement skills. A study which was carried out by Princeton University actually found that those with the largest exposure to playing videogames, especially on consoles such as the Nintendo Wii, had far better basic motor skills than those who did not.
Strategy
Finally, anyone who enjoys playing strategy games can also count on a great deal of improvement in both their brain function and their ability to concentrate. Strategy games involve a great deal of thought and a lot of organization and problem solving. In using these various aspects of the brain, you can greatly increase your brain power.
Why not use some of this ammunition the next time someone tells you to get outside?
