HEALTH RELATED ASPECTS OF VIDEOGAMES
Video games are enjoyed globally and more and more popular among adults, technology is constantly evolving which also results in more people being exposed to video games. Many gamers play on desktop computers, laptops, or consoles, but casual gamers, who play on tablets and smartphones whenever they can, have emerged. Gaming is a common form of entertainment, but do they have any adverse effects on our brains and behaviour? Play smart offers awareness on how to play effectively. Are the effects of gaming generally positive? (cognitive, emotional, motivation, and social benefits) or negative? (exposure to graphic violence, contribution to obesity, addiction, cardio-metabolic deficiencies, etc.) Considering different video game genres; action video games gain a lot more attention than slow-paced video games like role-playing(RPG), puzzle, or strategy which need high crafting skills and other forms of proactive cognitive control. The reason for this is the extensive use of attentional structures, paired with specific timings that action games require. While these improved attentional skills are typically observed in the habitual gamers, it is possible to achieve long-lasting improvements as a result of a single video game training procedure. Studies show that playing games can affect how our brains perform, and even their structure. Playing video games affects our attention, and some studies found that gamers show improvements in several types of attention, such as sustained attention or selective attention. The brain regions involved in attention are more efficient in gamers and need less activation to sustain attention on demanding tasks. There is evidence that video games can increase the capacity and efficiency of brain areas linked to visuospatial skills. For instance, the right hippocampus was grown in both long-term gamers and volunteers following a video game training program. “It's plausible that video games have both positive (on attention, visual and motor skills) and negative aspects (risk of addiction), and we must embrace this complexity," - Palaus. Video games have a range of essential features which make it fit for usage in experimental procedures; they increase members motive better than jobs traditionally used in neuropsychology and, in the matter of purpose-made plays, they offer a greater level of control over the in-game variables. Games are used as a research tool to study the nervous system. In this group of studies, it is common to find exposure to games as a detached variable, particularly in the majority researches that use raw commercial video games. However, it’s common to employ custom-designed games, such as the famous Space Fortress, where in-game variables can be fine-tuned to obtain certain mental manners in accord with the research system. Nevertheless, the study of the video game exposure over the nervous system and the use of games as research, games are used to collect data about neural means relevant to research interest.
Positive Impacts of Gaming on Health
In this article we are going to discuss about the positive health impacts related to gaming
