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Games To Keep You Young
Are video games the new fountain of youth?
By Jennifer Soong
WebMD Feature
Jennifer Wagner, 52, a blogger in New York City, is
addicted to playing games like Wurdle, Bejeweled,
and Cup O’ Joe on her iPhone. She discovered them
when her husband and college-age sons talked
non-stop about gaming apps after getting the iPhone
in December 2008.
“They make me think,” she says, “and I find that
relaxing. Because I’m concentrating on the game, my
mind is cleared of everything else, which rarely
happens, so I love that feeling.”
Like
Wagner, many boomers have caught the bug, buying and
downloading games in droves, often competing against
players half their age. A customer survey conducted
by PopCap Games, the maker of Bejeweled and other
online games with an estimated 150 million
consumers, found that 71% of its players are older
than 40, 47% are older than 50, and 76% are women.
Recent research has shown a link between playing a
complex strategy game like Rise of Nations and
improved memory and cognitive skills. Other studies
have demonstrated that older brains can focus better
when properly trained using games. So the results
suggest that players may be getting a bigger payoff
than just mastering the game.
Some
games like Brain Age and Happy Neuron claim to
provide a mental workout by improving memory, quick
thinking, and visual recognition skills. Others like
Guitar Hero and Rock Band sell the physical and fun
aspects for everyone, regardless of age. The
Beatles: Rock Band game, which comes out Sept. 9, is
betting on its nostalgic appeal for boomers and
seniors.
The Real Benefits of Games
Playing certain video games can help improve
split-second decision making, hand-eye coordination,
and, in some cases, auditory perception, says Ezriel
Kornel, MD, of Brain and Spine Surgeons of New York
in Westchester County. “It’s actually a very complex
set of tasks that your brain is going through.”
It’s
not enough, though, to just pick up a game and play
it for a few minutes, Kornel tells WebMD. You have
to actually improve at it -- and to improve you have
to be learning.
“Anytime the brain is in learning mode,” Kornel
says, “there are new synapses forming between the
neurons. So you’re creating thousands of connections
that can then be applied to other tasks as well.”
The
brain-boosting benefits depend on the type of game,
says Anne McLaughlin, PhD, psychologist at North
Carolina State University. “They’ve tried games that
didn’t work,” she says. “For example, you might
think that people learn to rotate things really well
by playing Tetris. But studies didn’t find much of
an effect. So you got better at Tetris, but you
didn’t get better at parking your car.”
Existing research shows that novelty is a catalyst
for learning, McLaughlin says. “If you’ve done
Sudoku your whole life, you’re not doing anything
new,” she says. “Completely new tasks form new
pathways in your brain. So it seems more likely that
something challenging and new would be a lot more
effective than something that’s challenging but
you’ve been doing it forever.”
With
a $1.2 million grant from the National Science
Foundation, her research team is examining what
types of games might help slow the effects of aging
on the brain. The four-year study will look at the
benefits that may transfer from solving puzzles in
the game universe to the daily grind of the real
world.
Stress Relief and Social Time
TerryAnn Holzgrafe, 45, a teacher of disabled
students in Rio Rico, Ariz., plays the spelling game
Bookworm Adventures both for fun and as a teaching
tool in her classroom. She also formed a Bookworm
Adventures’ ladies club, a group of 40-something
women who gather at a local coffeehouse to discuss
game strategies.
“These games have the unusual ability to de-stress
as well as engage one’s brain,” she says. “I play
them to relax at various points during the day, and
I play them very late at night when I’m having
trouble sleeping.”
There’s a real value at the emotional level, says
Kornel, who enjoys Guitar Hero. “Reducing stress can
help with clarity of thought,” he says.
Michael Caputo, 47, owner of an advertising agency
in the North Quabbin Region of Massachusetts, gets a
kick out of playing Rock Band with his kids and
appreciates the ribbing that goes along with the
intergenerational entertainment. “Rock Band has
music I like and music they like. They deal with me
singing ‘Green Grass’ and ‘High Times’ and I deal
with them singing ‘Dani California,’” he says.
He
also enjoys playing HALO, a best-selling sci-fi game
on Xbox, into the wee hours of the morning and
admits he is one of the older players. Six years
ago, he started playing HALO2 with a group of guys
he knew from church and their sons.
Although Caputo is a fan of socializing through
games, he says he isn’t aware of any health
benefits. “I suppose you would equate it with any
anticipated fun event that you look forward to and
have positive memories immediately following,” he
says.
Slowing the Aging Process
Retirement homes across the country have added Wii
nights with tennis, bowling, and other sports to
their rotation of activities. The Atlantic
Rehabilitation Institute in New Jersey is currently
using Wii games to help stroke and other rehab
patients with recovering motor function.
What
about toying with games to prevent memory loss?
Unfortunately, playing games can’t ward off disease
like Alzheimer’s or dementia, Kornel says, but you
may be able to slow the progression of the symptoms
to some extent.
“Older people have to feel like what they are doing
is doing something,” McLaughlin says. “They might
want to stay away from video games because they
would be a waste of time. But if it has a purpose,
then it might be more worthwhile.”
So
even though the verdict is out on whether video
games are the new fountain of youth, there’s nothing
stopping you from joining in the fun -- and hey, you
might even feel rejuvenated!
©
WebMD. All rights reserved.
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“Anytime the brain is in learning
mode, there are new synapses forming
between the neurons. So you’re creating
thousands of connections that can then be
applied to other tasks as well.” |
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