Gaming is most often thought to be bad for your health. It brings to mind stereotypes of unhealthy and unfit gamers who do nothing but sit in front of their PCs or consoles, day in and day out. However, when done in moderation, gaming isn’t necessarily bad for you.
In fact, better yet, gaming can have positive effects on your physical, mental and emotional health. It all comes down to not overdoing it. Here are 5 positive effects of gaming if you play the right sorts of games and limit the time you spend in front of your screens.
1. Improves Cognitive Abilities
This may seem surprising, but gaming has the potential to improve your cognitive abilities – especially your visuospatial skills and concentration. The former refers to your ability to recognise objects as well as remember their relations to each other. This beneficial for general, everyday life purposes, including for things like driving, navigation and so on. In fact, gaming can be a great thing to do in order to keep your brain active when it may otherwise be on standby – for older people, for instance.
2. Increased Hand-to-Eye Coordination
When we talk about working on hand-to-eye coordination, we’re normally talking about ball sports or something similar. However, gaming has the ability to improve hand-to-eye coordination. Gaming inadvertently teaches you how to respond quickly to things that you see by pushing buttons and so on. Thee quick reflexes are great for sport, driving and pretty much everything else in life.
3. Improves Problem Solving Skills
Gaming is all about problem solving – whether you’re deciding in which direction you want your character to run or trying to figure out a puzzle or a riddle of some sort. High-quality games encourage you to really think and find solutions to problems set in front of you. Furthermore, the very notion of gaming adds some urgency to the situation, helping you think on your feet.
4. Improves Aspects of Your Eyesight
Another one that seems counter-intuitive, gaming has the ability to improve aspects of your eyesight. By constantly focusing on what you’re seeing ahead of you, gaming actually helps you to train your eyes to see things in more detail. In addition, it’s also been shown to help improve your peripheral vision. This can have huge advantages for you in terms of driving as well as in your professional life, depending on what you do. Of course, the caveat with this one is that gaming too often will have the opposite effect – all in moderation!
5. Faster and Better Decision Making
Gaming is full of decision making, especially if you play live. The very act of having to make decisions on the fly is important. It teaches you to be decisive as well as helping you practice making decisions quickly and definitively. This is a skill that will benefit you in your personal and professional life too.