5 Reasons Why Playing Video Games Is Actually Good For You!

The technology is moving too fast. Video games weren't that addictive than they are today. Nowadays, when we play video games, it feels as if we are seeing the real world characters performing action stunts, and more importantly, we can move/use these characters in any manner we want. The graphics have improved so much that if you'd compare it with the old games, you'd be amazed. The demand for video games is increasing as such that Sony is about to launch Playstation 5, and consumers can't wait to buy it as soon as it becomes available.

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For a very long time, parents believed that video games are bad for their children. Even some adults think that video games are harmful to themselves. But today, many studies have discovered the opposite of what was believed by people. However, there are some limits. Addiction of anything is bad for you, no matter if you're a child or an adult.

If you are not letting your child buy the gaming console, fearing that it will be harmful to him, then stop doing it. Instead, let him buy the console, and prepare the playing schedule for him so that he/she doesn't stay glued to it. Or maybe you're an adult and would like to spend some time playing video games, but you are not doing it for the myths spread by people? Today, I'll share five reasons with you that video games are good, provided that you don't let yourself become addicted to them.

1. Stress Reliever:

According to the American Pain Society, video games help us relieve the pain by reducing our brain's response to it. Video games distract us from painful emotions and make us busy in the new environment, which turns off the senses of feeling physical or emotional pain. It refreshes your mood and makes you feel fresh.

Another study reported by ScienceDaily revealed that it's good to engage yourself in video games during rest breaks if you're feeling stressed or fatigue for a quick mood recovery. However, other studies by Iowa State University suggest that playing too often results in addiction, which then increases the stress level. So the ideal thing to do is to try playing for a few minutes and see if it makes you feel relaxed. If not, then probably gaming for stress relief is not for you.

Though the game choice matters a lot. I'll personally suggest you pick a game that you enjoy the most, and probably that won't be an action game that requires constant mental energy. Games such as an online pool or even some sort of racing games would work well.

2. Slow aging process:

Various video games require you to use your mental energy to succeed in them. For example, there are action games such as Black, Counter-Strike, and World of Warcraft, etc. These games require you to be focused on the screen and pay attention to even small movements, or else your character will lose its life, and thus, you'll lose the mission. These are objective-based games.

According to the researches made by some scientists at Montreal University, video games serve the best for slowing down their aging process by making their brains busy in the game, which improves their mental state. In the experiment, 33 participants aged between 55 to 75 were asked to play a specific game called "Super Mario 64" for 30 minutes a day and 5 days a week, and the experiment lasted 6 months. Researchers noted down the MRI results before and after the research and found that playing video games increased gray matter in their hippo-campus.

3. It makes you physically active:

You won't be lying on the bed while playing a video game, would you? You will at-least have to sit up straight on the bed or chair and pay attention to every tiny movement on the screen. At least it's better than lying all day on the bed doing nothing. Most of us are sports lovers. I can speak for myself. I'm a sports lover. I love playing Cricket and Basketball.

Another way that makes you physically active is motivation towards playing a real sports game with your cousins, friends, or family mates. The University of Rochester discovered in one of their studies that teens who play sports-related games in their PC or consoles are likely to be inspired to play it in real life. And even if you don't play it in real life and only play on consoles, you are somewhat active as compared to lying all day on the bed.

4. It improves your memory:

There are various types of games. One of which is called "brain-training games". Even though the name already describes everything nicely, but here are some more proofs if you're still not convinced. A research was conducted by Dr. Brian Glass at the University of London in which he revealed that gaming improves the brain agility and brain's cognitive flexibility.

Another report was published at ScienceDaily in which it is stated that 116 scientific studies were collected to find whether the brain-training games improve one's memory or it's just a myth. And as expected, the result of all those studies was positive.

5. It makes you learn that failure is the key to success:

If you are afraid to fail in doing something, you can never succeed. Success demands that you put your best efforts and don't care about how many times you've failed, provided that you are on the right track. I'm sure you all know about Thomas Edison. How many times did he fail? He made 1,000 attempts at inventing the light bulb, and all of them were unsuccessful, or you can call it "failure". But he knew that failure is the key to success.

Video games (or any game) teach you the same lesson. When you started playing Counter-Strike, how many times did you get caught by head-shot? I assume that you didn't stop there. You tried again and again until you mastered the art of defense. You played with a strategy and finally succeed in it. See, you failed in the beginning, but now you are an expert CS: GO player.

One word of caution, though. Addiction is bad. It is worth repeating that games can be harmful if you don't abide by the rules. Too much of anything leads to dangerous consequences, and I hope that you won't learn it the hard day.

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