The Healthy Gamer

Gaming is a sport?

Part of living a healthy lifestyle denotes that we keep our mind and body active, sensualised, and challenged. After watching countless amounts of League of Legends streams and noticing how the top end players like to play titles such as; Super Meat Boy and Tetris, or even Type Racer during their queue times, I started to wonder why.

After some research and speaking to gamers of all genres it all came down to the mind. Byron 'Reckful' Bernstein, a regular face in the MMO scene, said "Playing Type Racer in between queues keeps my mind active and helps me focus".

So we all have a 'brain age' which will determine how well our brains are working, how stimulated and active they are. With a 'brain age' of twenty years old believed to be the age at which your brain reaches its mental peak, through regular practice, you can theoretically reduce your brain's age and make it more efficient. Not only will you improve your mental abilities and reaction times, but it's believed keeping the brain active can help delay the development of diseases like dementia!

There are plenty of mini games out there, those that are recommended for increasing your mental potential are more along the lines of counting, drawing, word games, reading and Sudoku puzzles. Your brain is similar to your physical body in that both require regular exercise to be properly maintained.

Not all of us enjoy physical exertion, but I do have a few tips for when you're at your PC and like myself spending way too many hours in front of a monitor;

Water - keeping your fluid intake high is important, your cells respire when your concentrating on those first bloods, it seems only fair to replenish them! Don't forget to stay away from sugary drinks and caffeine where possible.

A Punch Bag - we all rage, its only natural that your blood pressure rises as that Lee Sin appears to take your Red Buff once again from under your nose because your lanes are constantly dead. Get a punch bag, or even a pillow, if your going to get frustrated you might as well burn some calories and work on them muscles while your at it.

Movement - this is particularly important during queue times or small breaks. Stand up, walk around your room or office/gaming abode. I mean, I don't know about you but I don't fancy deep vein thrombosis at the age of twenty three.

Take a break - as far as MMO titles are concerned they generally have restrictions in place to slow down your leveling/currency gains. Those restrictions are there for a reason! They're telling you to slow down, take a break, go outside and get some fresh air.
 

Gaming has social benefits!

More often than not people who play video games face an uphill battle with the general media and negative connotations that are associated with the impact gaming has on social behaviors. I'd like to highlight a few positive and motivating reasons why playing video games is a positive step in the right direction. Below you'll find a list of facts and figures produced by PshychologyDegree.net;

- Video game usage has grown by 40% since 2006.

- Studies show video games increase problem solving and creativity.

- Video game players perform 10-20% higher in terms of perceptual and cognitive ability than non-video game players.

- A study found that children playing video games performed 23% higher in creative tests involving drawing and writing.

- Gamers are real life super heros - studies found gamers were 20% more likely to come to the aid of person being physically harmed than those who do not play video games.

- Surgeons that play video games were 27% faster at advanced surgical procedures and make 37% fewer mistakes.

- Players of a popular social game met a challenge from its creators and planted 25,000 trees in the virtual world in 25 days, leading the game developers to plant 25,000 trees in real life.

- Gamers solved an AIDS protein problem that puzzled scientists for 15 years, in just 15 days.

What is a Healthy Gamer?
 

Remember healthy gaming is a lifestyle choice, a healthy gamer maintains a balanced lifestyle, takes good care of him/herself, and practices gaming etiquette.

Maintain a balanced lifestyle; engage in real-world healthy social and physical activities. Spend quality time with friends and family. Know how to communicate effectively in real-world situations.

Take good care of yourself; know when to take a break from gaming, maintain personal hygiene, and manage stress levels.

Practice gaming etiquette; respect all other gamers (there are real people, with feelings, behind those pixelated avatars). Refrain from swearing, hacking, cheating, flaming, and bullying.