Notes

Video games have always been looked at with suspicion. Whether we’re worried about young children’s attention span, or prematurely aging eyes, video games have long been associated with our sedentary, anti-social, technologically dependent lives. While it’s true that taken to excess, video games may be unhealthy for a variety of reasons, the same can be true of many things in our lives. There are many well-known unhealthy gaming habits to watch for. But you probably didn’t know that gaming could be healthy, did you?

Keep Your Brain Fit
Aging comes to us all, and with it, are a lot of health issues. Not just your body and organs age, after all. Loss of cognitive function, short term memory, and attention span are a natural part of the aging process. And studies show several hours of video games over the period of eleven weeks can actually make your brain sharper, better focused, and help you learn new tasks and retain new information for longer.

Better Multi-Tasking Skills
Research also indicated that video games may help you make decisions under pressure, and multitask better. Action games are especially well-suited to developing the skills to handle multiple sources of information, take in sensory data more effectively, and make decisions quickly, even under pressure. Being able to switch from right to left brain thinking and reacting quickly is another skill that a few hours of gameplay can help you develop.

Enhance Brain Flexibility
Brain flexibility covers a host of functions. Video games are designed to challenge your brain on multiple levels, to stay challenging and entertaining. Playing brain-training, role-playing, or action-adventure games will keep your brain working. Switching back and forth between right and left brain, between the physical and mental challenges involved in gameplay can increase your brain flexibility and cognitive function. That can help you learn, and retain information longer too!

Treat Depression And Anxiety
Parents often worry when their child becomes withdrawn and disappears into a world of video games. But video games may be effective at treating depression and anxiety, and not a sign of shutting yourself away at all. Used in moderation, video games have been shown to distract from negative self-talk and help those suffering from depression with goal setting. There are even games and apps out now explicitly designed to help adolescents with mental health problems. Much of the data is still new since this is a new approach. But so far, studies indicate programs like this as successful.