Video Games Prevents Alzheimer’s Disease; 5 Surprising Health Benefits From Playing Your Xbox, PS4

The idea of playing games is sometimes associated with lazy people who like to lounge around and do nothing all day. But recent studies indicate that the activity can help prevent the onset of Alzheimer's in older people. Here are a few startling health benefits to playing your favorite PlayStation, Xbox or gaming console.

A recent report by Medical Daily highlighted two studies: one involving the game "Neuroracer" while another research had seniors playing 'World of Warcraft.

For the game "Neuroracer," participants between the ages 60 and 87 were asked to drive a vehicle down a snaky road and pressing a button when a sign appears in the game. After a month of playing the game, the participants did better at multitasking compared to 20-year-olds who played the game once.

Another study introduced seniors aged 60 to 77 to the multi-player game "World of Warcraft." After playing the game for two hours a day for a total of 14 days, participants showed significant improvements in cognition and spatial abilities.

Research has shown that gaming can encourage the development of certain parts of the brain. However, this is not the only health benefit to playing video games.

According to Motion Fitness, video games can also help improve vision. A study conducted by the University of Rochester revealed that playing video games for a few hours daily can enhance the person's visual acuity by at least 20 percent.

Psychology Today says video games can also be used to treat "lazy eye." By covering up the good eye when playing, the bad eye is forced to compensate.

As a result, visual attention and depth perception improves in the "lazy eye."

As stated by Motion Fitness, video games can also enhance reaction times. A study published in the publication 'Current Directions in Psychological Science' says gamers exhibit faster response times compared to non-gamers.

According to the results of the study, the rapid reaction times were also exhibited even when the players were placed in non-gaming situations.

In some cases, video games can also be used to overcome dyslexia. A study conducted in 2013 revealed that dyslexic children who play video games for a few hours showed improvements in reading tests.

Playing video games can also be useful in careers involving attention, decision-making, and good hand-eye coordination, such as performing laparoscopic surgery. The fitness publication says inexperienced surgeons who play video games did better performing surgery than the surgeons in the control group.