Who just doesn’t love video games? Some people maybe, but video gaming is just fun to most people. Since 1970s till now a lot of people, especially youths have enjoyed playing video games.
Also, during that time they have been a lot of new innovations in video games, with better graphics, quality and gaming experience.
We play video games to relax and catch fun. And with all these new developments there’s just so much to love about about video games.
But have you ever wondered if playing video games had any health benefits. What are the health benefits of playing video games? Are there any physical or mental health benefits of playing video games? You’ll find out the answers to these questions today, so read on.
Health Benefits Of Playing Video Games
When we play a video game we use almost all of our special senses, we also devote a great amount of mental attention to the game.
You don’t use all of your special senses or devote such mental attention when doing other activities like, reading a book or watching a movie.
Though if you play League Of Legends, you can now combine reading and video games by reading this how to beat Garen as Darius guide.
This shows that playing video games can be mentally and physically beneficial to you. Here are 7 ways you benefit from playing video games.
1. It reduces anxiety
Yes! Playing video games can reduce anxiety. In my last article I wrote that I played video games to reduce stress. A study at the New Jersey Medical School’s anesthesiology department, found out that children who played video games before going through an operation felt less anxiety than expected. This is partly because playing your favorite video games releases endorphins also called ‘feel good’ hormones. You can take some certain steps to make your video gaming experience more comfortable, leaving you to focus on the excitement of a good gaming session.
2. It enhances vision
Playing video games has been shown to improve eyesight and visual contrast sensitivity. How? When playing video games you are able to recognize different shades of color and notice small details, these can improve your vision steadily. Another finding was that playing video games can improve the condition of people suffering from amybylopia. Amybylopia or ‘lazy eye’ is an eye disorder where one eye is essentially non functional. The experiment was carried out on two groups of people with the disease. The functional eye was closed and the two groups were engaged in two different activities, one group played video games while the other knitted or read. The group who played video games showed significant improvement compared to the other group.
3. It boosts memory retention and IQ level
This is quite obvious. Remembering missions, game patterns, and control methods, and perhaps using this information to plan your next diablo 2 rune upgrade, for example, can boost one’s memory through constant gaming.
Cognitive games like tetris or sudoku can increase IQ level and overall brain power. It will also improve your decision making which you might encounter in real life situations.
4. It helps you restrain food cravings
Most of the time, we eat when we bored or stressed out. But when you play video games you could curb those unnecessary food cravings. I mean, you are focused on the screen and your hands are busy, there’s no way you can eat. But other activities like watching movies or reading would make you eat more.
So instead of grabbing a snack, why not play a video game it’ll take your mind of food and inadvertently make you lose weight.
5. It helps you manage depression
Depression can result from stress or a traumatic experience. Depression can be life threatening if well dwell too much on it. Engaging in fun games can make you take your mind away from depressing things. Fun and casual games are effective ways to reduce stress, improve mood, and overcoming anxiety.
6. It enhances motor skills and executive functioning
Gaming can improve motor skills and movement efficiency. While executive functioning is a person’s ability to allot his or her mental resources like perception, attention, and memory in ways that allow for rapid, efficient problem solving. This executive functioning is greatly enhanced when you play stimulating and challenging games.
7. It improves your social health
Video gaming is another excellent way to boost your social health. Now with games you can connect with fellow gamers online. This can be great because it will build your social skills, as you get to interact, lose, win and rejoice with your fellow gaming buddies.
This improved social health can help people suffering from autism and depression.
I hope you’ve learnt something new and interesting today. Please note that this post doesn’t mean you should play video games all the time. Too much of everything can be harmful, so you should engage in any activity with moderation and limitation.
Thanks for reading.
