Gaming is Good! The Positive Aspects of Playing Video Games

The bad rap online and offline gaming gets is undeserved. Yes, video games can be addictive, and compulsively playing any game can be harmful to your general health and wellbeing.

However, new research is revealing that controlled gaming click here is highly beneficial and that in fact, the actual act of playing gaming is positive and good for you in so many ways.

A word on what makes gaming good or bad

What determines whether gaming casts a positive or negative effect on your life are the attendant habits you couple with the activity. For instance, if you compulsively play video games all day, you will become a couch potato, probably eat tons of junk food, become unproductive, and because of this, you are likely to develop unhealthy habits that are likely to compromise your health and keep you performing well below your full potential.

On the other hand, disciplined gaming is likely to be very beneficial for your brain, health, and overall wellbeing.

In case you are wondering about it, controlled video gaming has the following health benefits:

The Health Benefits of Disciplined Video Gaming

Among many others, controlled video gaming has the following benefits:

#: Science says video gaming is good for your brain

A study conducted at the Max Planck Institute revealed that playing video games such as Super Mario 64 for 30 minutes every day for two months leads to improved activity in the hippocampus, the cerebellum, the prefrontal cortex, and other parts of the brain concerned with important processes such as planning, motor control, memory formation and retention.

These researchers concluded that any fast-paced video game, yes, that does include fast-paced, mobile action games such as Iron Snout, Super Hexagon, and others, and fist shooters have the same effect on different parts of the brain and are therefore likely to lead to improved brain health, memory retention, and improved hand-eye coordination.

Of course, discipline and not excessive gaming is important, whether you’re blasting your way through the latest MMOG like Shadowbringers, or indulging in games of chance at Partycasino.

#: Reduces mental decay

A study from the University of Iowa has shown that most of the Brain-teasing games readily available on the various play stores and downloadable to various smartphones, mobile devices, and tablets can lead to reduced mental decay and significantly reduce the brain’s ageing process.

This particular research study involved over 500 adults aged 50 and above; it concluded that playing crosswords puzzles specifically designed for the study for 10 hours over an 8-week period exercised the brain, which led to decreased mental decay.

#: Improved creativity

In a 2012 study published by Linda Jackson et al., the researcher concluded that gaming has creative benefits. This specific study involved 491 12-year olds, with researchers seeking to track how long the children played video games per week, as well as the amount of time they spent on the internet and mobile phones. Their research findings showed a very strong correlation between controlled video gaming and increased creativity. Other research findings have correlated these findings.

#: Better problem solving

Games such as Minecraft, Sim City, Civilization, and other mobile games where you (the player) have to interact with objects within a gaming environment have proven very effective at improving strategic thinking and problem solving skills.

Take the example of a game such Sim City where the aim of the game is to plan a city from the ground up. The forethought attached to determining how best to lay out your city means thinking about how best to manage resources at hand, a skill that is very easy to cart into real world experiences.

In a controlled situation, even mobile games as popular and as addictive as Candy Crush can be very beneficial for you because matching jellies requires a certain amount of forethought especially when you have a specific number of moves to get through a certain level of the game.

Conclusion

Playing video games and highly involved mobile games is greatly beneficial. With that stated, the keyword here is controlled or disciplined video gaming. Compulsive or addictive video gaming is still detrimental to your health and wellbeing.