Don’t let those around you, be they parents, children, or your boss, grumble and prevent you from spending another hour or two freeing London from the Templars, fighting hard-to-predict, but already familiar alien enemies, or taking part in skirmishes on the streets of Moscow after the apocalypse. It’s good for your health!
The good news is that games are extremely healthy. This statement is probably completely at odds with what parents tell their children. So now you are lightly armed and you will be able to repel an attack when someone says that you play too much or something like the old phrase “these games make you dumb.” Video game companies definitely disagree with this opinion.
1. Improves Memory
Many scientists have proven that video games improve memory. A recent study at the University of California, Irvine showed that the hippocampus, the region of the brain responsible for learning and memory, undergoes changes when a person plays 3D games.
Memory improves significantly, and for some, even 12%! While it is not entirely clear why play has such an effect on memory, researchers are wondering how this finding could be used to treat people with memory and cognitive problems.
2. Movement Coordination Improves
Video games have a positive effect on hand-eye coordination. This influence is so great that games are used in training surgeons, in particular when practicing accuracy of movements and skills in performing tasks in a very limited space.
It was already known that video games affect motor skills, but recent research is shedding light on the nature of this phenomenon. Games that require fast action, such as first-person shooters, have been shown to improve motor skills and quick decision-making.
That is why you are able to react from 30 meters to enemy soldiers, who are in front, and on the sides, and behind.
3. Noted A Positive Effect On Cognitive Processes
We have already said that games improve memory, but they also affect cognitive processes. This means that by playing your favorite game, you develop attention, perseverance, and the ability to perceive the environment, all thanks to critical thinking and decision-making during the game.
This finding is very important because it turns out that video games can help treat people with cognitive problems that develop with age, such as Alzheimer’s and mental decline.
4. Less Stress And Depression
You are definitely the best way to relieve or reduce stress if you use a tank to sweep away hordes of enemies on a distant planet (and possibly alien structures). There is ample evidence that video games can help reduce stress and depression.
It turns out that while playing and thinking about what is happening in the game, a person forgets about the stress and anxiety that our reality is full of. Many people play, for example, Angry Birds to relax. Games also facilitate communication between people, which is very important for those who are single.
Now the process of communication in games is increasingly facilitated by the developers of mobile games.
5. Ability To Make Decisions Improves
We touched on this in passing, but video games do improve your decision-making ability. In many games, a person is faced with moral dilemmas that force us to weigh the pros and cons and make a decision that affects the further course of the game.
Some games, such as strategy games, cannot be played successfully without sufficient critical thinking. Even a first-person shooter requires this skill, and you also need to be a good strategist, because a shooter is not only about aiming and shooting. Research shows that skills learned in games can be very useful in real life, such as in school.
