Gaming is often (wrongly) depicted as a threat to mental health. While it's true that gaming excessively can impede your health (we all need to get regular fresh air), gaming a reasonable amount actually boasts excellent mental health benefits.
In fact, in 2020, a study by Oxford University concluded that playing video games can actually improve your mental health and make you happier.
Here's how gaming, even for just a few hours a week, can make a difference to your overall wellbeing.
1. It Improves Confidence
Not all of us have the confidence to make new friends at a party or join clubs. Gaming offers many introverts the chance to meet new people in an environment without the pressures of face-to-face interaction.
For those who lack a community outside of the online world, playing games with others creates a space in which you can be yourself and discuss your interests, knowing that the person you're talking to is interested in what you have to say.
If you're looking for a way to interact with like-minded individuals without piling on the pressure, you'll find it in the world of online gaming.
2. It's a Great Distraction
Let's face it, the modern world can be stressful. From busy days at work to organizing childcare, there are few moments when we get to simply prioritize our own wellbeing. Gaming allows you to forget about the stresses of the day and focus on doing something you enjoy.
If you need to relax after a week of time-consuming tasks, search for stress relieving games online to take the edge off.
You don't have to always focus on fast-paced multiplayer games, either. Sometimes, playing a classic like solitaire is just the ticket.
3. It Boosts Brainpower
When you play video games, you're engaging various parts of your brain. You're using to imagination to imagine exactly how it would be to be in the same situation as your on-screen character. You're using problem-solving skills to fix the issue you're faced with. And you're using logic and forward-thinking to determine how to win the game.
Playing games is actually associated with better cognitive function among children. So while studying for upcoming tests at school is important, you might also benefit from playing games during your downtime.
4. Games Help People Develop Coping Mechanisms
Life is full of unforeseen situations that we haven't yet developed the tools to deal with. Learning ways to overcome challenges in a game can actually help to develop your problem-solving skills for challenges that arise in real life.
Experiencing tricky situations through the medium of a game also helps gamers become better equipped to deal with real-life obstacles and difficulties.
The Bottom Line
Gaming has been vilified at points in history by the press, for claims that it makes children less sociable and more isolated, and stops them from taking part in exercise or outdoor activities.
While gaming excessively is harmful to mental and physical health, enjoying gaming - whether alone or with others - as part of an otherwise well-rounded lifestyle is a great way to de-stress.
