Video games: Impact on Health

Ever since the dawn of video games, they have been greatly endorsed into our culture.

Today, there are over millions of games, each having a different story and purpose. Video games

have led to a lot of positive outcomes, and will continue to contribute for the generations to

come. However, a great number of people deny the fact that video games have been enhancing

our ability to think and process. A large figure of the public has a diluted opinion on how video

games do no good, therefore concluding that it is an unhealthy waste of time. For the people who

do not know, video games have been used as a source of treatment for mental disorders such as

stress and depression. It even strengthens memory and sharpens decision making processes.

Video games have a constructive effect on our health.

People claim to say how people who play video games can create mental boundaries,

therefore closing ones mind and making brains feeble. That is not the case. Recent studies have

shown that playing different categories of video games can reinforce memory and augment our

brains to make quicker decisions. Samuel Becker, a senior health and fitness writer at The Cheat

Sheet backs up this claim very well in his article, Health Benefits of Playing Video Games. A

lot of games that are rife with ethical dilemmas are certain to affect an individuals in-game

experience by forcing the gamer to balance out the pros and cons, which leads to making

decisions. Strategy games require one to critically reflect on a very high level to achieve the

games objective (Becker). Furthermore, in his article, he also stated that first person shooter

games identical to Call of Duty use a good deal of critical thinking rather than just aiming and

shooting (Becker). Thus, video games can be used as an important technique to help people who

take time and struggle with making decisions.

 Mental synchronization is also affected by play video games. First person shooter games,

such as Battlefield and Halo, can increase the brains capability to learn new motor skills. Keith

Perry, a group managing editor at the Telegraph Media group explains this in her article Fast-

Paced Video Games Improve Learning Ability. In her article, she states that the study done by

the University of Toronto psychologists in 2014 had shown that people who played Call of Duty

or Assassins Creed appear to learn a new sensorimotor skill faster than people who do not play

video games (Perry). A new sensorimotor skill like typing or learning to ride a bicycle usually

needs a new pattern of coordination between motor and vision movement. This coordination

between motor and vision movement was enhanced by playing video games and proven to be a

successful method of sensorimotor learning.

In addition to all the helpful neural impacts video gaming must offer, it reduces an

individuals stress as well. There are many people who believe that stress is the outcome of a

patterned approach of thinking. Everyone has some sort of stressors that commonly occur every

day. Video games have the ability to break that pattern which gives the brain a mental break. It is

refocusing an individuals mind by putting it into a different zone, which cuts down the amount

of distractions. Puzzle games like Bejeweled are great stress relievers. In the article, Science

Proves Playing Games Reduces Your Stress, written by Ryan Dube, managing editor at the

website MakeUseOfUs.com and founder of Top Secret Writers, talks about the study

conducted by Associate Professor Dr. Christopher J. Ferguson at Texas A&M. He stated that Dr.

Christopher results of his study showed that both men and women who play violent video games

long-term seem to be able to adopt mental skills to handle stress. They become depressed and get

hostile during stress tasks (Dube).

 Depressions also tags with stress as one of the obstacles people attempt to escape in their

everyday lives. Sometimes, the struggle to fight depression rises too much. They get buried into

it which makes it nearly impossible to talk about it with others. There are many different

methods in treating depression, and video gaming is also considered to be one now. Nowadays,

most games carry a co-operative or online mode, which can initiate discussions among other

gamers on creating tactics to achieve multiple objectives. In the book, SuperBetter written by

Dr. Jane McGonigal, game designer and Chief Creative Officer at SuperBetter Labs explains

how depression is reduced by playing video games. She states that a person simultaneously

thinks about the experience of the game while playing it which makes different regions in the

brain hyperactive (McGonigal). So, The gamers focus is immediately fixated on a specific goal

while other interferences are cut off. The brain is in a hyperactive state and being focused on one

objective, thus reducing the amount of depression.

Knowing that a kid is having trouble interacting with others is common. There are many

children who face social anxiety or moderate difficulty with social skill all over the globe. Video

games has proven to reduce social anxiety as well. Kids, when paired to actual head-on

interaction, are able to use online co-operative games to help initiate relationships in a low-risk

environment where they can work as a team to complete aims in the game. Dr. Randy Kulman,

supports this claim in his article Prescribe Video Games for Depression and Anxiety. In the

article, he said, When paired with opportunities for face-to-face interactions can be a useful

intermediary step to becoming more social. For children with social anxiety, online

communications can be an opportunity to initiate engagement that they might be reluctant to by

more direct means (Kulman).

 It is surprising to know that video games have more good than bad on our health. Society

must not deny the fact that video games have been playing a positive role on our health. Not only

does research shows that it leads to a decrease in depression and stress levels. But has also

proven to be am enjoyable and successful for individuals, especially kids, to fight off social

anxiety. The society can come up with more techniques of improving ones life by using video

games as a source if we can focus our energy and attention on the video games industry.

Works Cited
Ashley, Kendall. How Video Games Can Help With Depression and Anxiety. Geeky
and Sundry, 2015.
Ault, Alicia. Video Games and Learning. CQ Researcher, 2016.
Becker, Samuel. Health Benefits of Playing Video Games. Seattle: Cheat Sheet,
2016.
Dube, Ryan. Science Proces that Playing Games Reduces Your Stress. MakeUseOfUs,
2015.
Kulman, Dr. Randy. Prescribe Video Games for Depression and Anxiety. Learning
Works for Kids, 2015.
McGonigal, Jane. Superbetter. Penguin Books, 2015.
Perry, Keith. Fast Paced video games improves learning ability. London: Telegraph,
2014.