Video games provide a fun escape from reality though they are often portrayed as violent, lazy and a waste of time by system. The debate has raged on from years so are there any helpful effects, can video games really make you smarter? Before we get forward of ourselves it’s important to know that too much of anything can be bad. So if you do nothing and play video games the risk probably outweigh any benefits. Having said that many studies have actually shown increases in cognitive function after playing video games.

One study in particular hire participants to play super Mario 30 minutes a day for two months, later the brains of these participants have an increase of grey matter in areas connected with memory, tactical planning and fine motor skills of the hands compared to those who hadn’t played. These are particularly encouraging results from mental disorder which cause these brain regions to shrink using video games as therapy. Video games can also be incredibly educational and while you may not be playing some of your favorite games for this purpose, there are definitely many games that are used as effective teaching tools for both young and old. They may even help kids who suffer from Dyslexia read more effectively.

In a small study Dyslexic children’s who played regular video games ended up reading faster and more accurately, meanwhile other studies have found improvement in eye sight, not only they can see smaller details more clearly like tiny writing but they have an easier time differentiating levels of grey. Very practice action gamers were 58% better at perceiving fine differences in contrast which is important as this is one of the first things to weaken with age. Even in the elderly developed memory and focus is seen. More prominently specially designed brain teasing video games have been shown to slow the aging process of the brain by up to 7 years. This is because they are cognitively complex and require a mental energy.

Finally as technology continues to renovate medicine, surgeries are being completed with the insertion of cameras and remote control tools and theses surgeries have very clear, parallels to videos games with a screen and a supervisory device. Not astonishingly young doctors with previous acquaintance to videos games show fewer errors and faster completion than those without.

Of course all of these skills are useful if you use them, which you can’t if all you do is play video games, so enjoy your down time and relax with your games but get out there and keep your life diverse as well because that’s who you win at the game of life.