It’s important to do what you can to improve your mind and body. It’s particularly useful for when you get older and both the mind and body start to work against you, rather than with you.
Finding productive ways in which to help your body and mind become a little younger in life is something that many people would love to achieve. There are plenty of things you can be doing in order to counteract nature in any way you can and hopefully keep your body feeling younger for longer.
Online gaming is something that has become a popular pastime for many in recent years, especially for the purpose of helping with memory or easing stress levels. If you’re looking to get into online gaming this year, here are eight benefits of online gaming for your mind and body.
1. Boosts your memory capacity
Memory is a funny thing. We remember such memories in the moment, thinking that they’ll never ever fade away, yet most of the time, they do just that.
A lot of video games that you’ll play online require a level of strategy and concentration. Whether that’s playing a pool game or keeping your wits about you as you navigate a first-person shooter game.
If you’re somewhat experienced with online games already, you’ll know that some games are quite the challenge when it comes to remembering specific details or navigating certain levels as you make your way through the game.
There’s a lot of rich stimulation that comes with video games and a lot of mult-tasking that can help with pro-longing your memory. If anything it’s a good way of training it!
2. Improves vision
While online games aren’t going to give you 20/20 vision, it can certainly be helpful in improving your vision, helping to distinguish various patterns and different shades of colors that you might not have noticed before in real life.
The improvement in your contrast sensitivity is what can benefit from playing online games too, so it’s something worth highlighting when it comes to getting more out of your games.
Spatial visualization is something that can be improved through video games and online games in general. There have even been studies that have found gamers that play video games find their mental rotation and spatial visualization improves with both 2D and 3D games.
This improvement in your spatial awareness, in particular, can be handy for adapting to real life too. Whether that’s navigating a tight parking spot or playing Tetris when packing your car. There are also those who have the ability to take on certain roles or careers with good spatial awareness.
3. Helps with decision-making
We all have those moments where we need to decide in the moment or even struggle to decide on something that we know has been coming for a while. Being able to improve your decision making is not only for the benefit of yourself but for the benefit of others too.
Improving your decision-making may also put you in a position where you are able to take on more responsibility in the workplace, leading to further promotion or stepping up in your department, for example.
Video games are often fast-paced, so this need to react quickly is very common. As a result, you’ll find that your reaction times improve and your ability to make a decision vastly improves every extra moment you spend when playing online games.
You’ll find yourself achieving so much more from online gaming when it comes to your general day-to-day life. It’s a skill that you can benefit from in more ways than one.
4. Resolving problems
Many games that you play online provide you with the ability to solve problems and provide the solutions you need to win the game. So is life, you want to be effective when it comes resolving issues whether that be in your personal life or professional.
Whether it’s strategic or role-playing, these online games often come with a wealth of problems that need resolving. Players are able to solve problems within these virtual environments and, as such, can then adapt what they’ve learnt to the real world.
You’ll find that pretty much all genres of games online will have some degree of problem-solving as part of the gameplay. The problems when it comes to online games could be through trial and error or from analysis of previous gameplay actions. Not only does it help to improve problem-solving, but it helps with resilience and perseverance when things get hard.
5. Improving your mood
Life can throw its challenges at the best of times, which is why you want to find as many outlets as possible to counteract those curveballs thrown.
With online games, you can benefit from the enjoyment they bring, helping you forget about the struggles you might be facing in life currently. Many of the video games and online games you’ll come across will influence your mood in some way, shape, or form. Some may help to ease
those feelings of anger, while others might send you into a frustrated rage.
For the most part, though, online games do provide that light relief you need when it comes to forgetting about the general day-to-day worries in life.
Many players simply pay for games because it’s a distraction, and it can fuel a lot of happiness and enjoyment without hurting or impacting anyone else. It gives the brain a break, which is often needed.
6. Boosts social skills
Not everyone is blessed with the ability to talk without feeling the slightest bit self-conscious or awkward.
In social situations, there can be challenges for those who don’t necessarily have a natural gift of interacting with others. Players often take on fictional personas when it comes to playing online, meaning they can play pretend behind a screen.
This often helps those who have poor social skills or may be isolated in their day-to-day life. So, if you’re someone who experiences social anxiety, then this is definitely something that can be of benefit to you.
7. Benefits of physical fitness
One of the lesser-known benefits of online gaming is that some of the games you play may be beneficial to your physical fitness. Games like Wii Fit or Dance Dance Revolution require you to actually get up and move about in order to progress through the game.
While there aren’t many games that require physical exercise, we may find that there is more coming in the future. For example, the use of AR and VR could lead to more games having a physical aspect that gets the blood pumping as you’re playing!
At least with the excuse of online gaming, you can say it’s benefiting your health, and therefore, a trip to the gym is simply not necessary when playing online.
8. Encourages curiosity and learning
Finally, as humans, it’s important to explore and discover new things in life. With online gaming, you have the benefit of sparking your curiosity and your need for learning.
At its most basic level, online games are helping your brain work and grow. From completing puzzles to beating the final level boss, you’re doing a lot for your mind in general.
The more you find yourself motivated to navigate through a game, the more your brain will be working hard. It also means you’re learning, even if you don’t feel like you’re learning a lot. Continued learning is essential for your brain when it comes to keeping you healthy.
So, with these benefits in hand, consider embracing a new pastime of playing online games this year.