Remember "Gold 21 hours", playing games is not only harmless but more beneficial

Recently, some media said that long -term obsessed games will change the brain structure and make the brain similar to Alzheimer's disease. is this real?

First of all, how can you be a "addicted" game? Some researchers believe that the "addicted game" to the degree of the following addiction symptoms can be diagnosed as "game disorders":

Play the game continuously and repeatedly;

Unable to control the frequency, strength, time length, etc.;

Play the game on other life interests and daily activities;

Even if you have felt the negative consequences of playing games, it still maintains or increases the time of playing games every day;

The above behavior has constituted a significant negative impact on personal life, family, social activities, education, occupation and other aspects;

The above symptoms last for at least one year (if the symptoms are more severe, the requirements of duration can be shortened).

Secondly, with the metabolism of cells, each of us's brain is also changing. The so -called becomes similar to Alzheimer's disease, and it needs to be more scientific argument.

Nowadays, 1 billion people playing video games on the planet, on average, play at least 1 hour a day. This number will undoubtedly rise in the future; according to the research on the Internet life of Petou Research Center, 99%of the United States under 18 years of age and 92%of girls under 18 years of age acknowledge that they often play video games. Boys play an average of 13 hours a week for 13 hours a week , Girl 8 hours.

So many people and more people will put so much time and energy into video games, which makes us understand how the video game has on the psychological impact of people. The game science in "Game Change Life" can help us minimize potential harm and obtain these 3 potential benefits.

01

Cognitive benefits: the game makes you smarter

Games can make you smarter, especially fast -paced action games and racing video games, such as "Call of Duty", "Extreme Racing" and "Grand Theft Auto". Those who often play action video games can get the following cognitive benefits:

1. Improve visual attention and spatial intelligence skills, which is expected to achieve higher achievements in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics;

2. In the environment of high pressure and time, make decisions faster and more accurate;

3. Improve the ability to track multiple information flow at the same time. Compared with mild gamers, the number of deep players tracking information flow can reach three times that of them;

4. Obtaining a more efficient neural circuit means that the brain needs less resources when dealing with difficult tasks.

"StarCraft", "Quality Effect", "Final Fantasy" and other strategic games also help improve the ability to solve specific problems. This ability is very important for academic success and higher achievements in daily life.

Specifically, these benefits include:

More efficient information collection ability;

Fast and more accurate option assessment capabilities;

The ability to formulate and implement strategic planning is stronger;

Flexible the ability to find alternative strategies or goals.

Finally, various types of video games are linked to better creativity. Children who spend more time playing games, even if he is playing games with violent content, he has a higher creative score in narrative, painting, and problem solving.

It is worth noting that from the perspective of scientific evidence, compared with the so -called brain training games that improve cognitive functions as the selling point, the cognitive benefits brought about by traditional video games based on entertainment are significantly more. In fact, in 2014, 70 neurosciences jointly issued a public statement, calling on the following situations: scientific literature reviewed by colleagues did not indicate that brain training games can bring long -term cognitive benefits. The most famous game is "Lumosity "series.

Some studies directly compared the benefits of mainstream video games and brain training games such as the sci -fi puzzle game "Portal" and the fantasy role -playing game "World of Warcraft". Studies have found that the improvement of traditional video games to cognitive capabilities is significantly stronger than that Brain training game. Some researchers have talked about these results, and they have put forward a simple explanation: traditional video games are more complicated and difficult to master, and players need to learn wider and more challenging technology and ability. Therefore, if you are particularly interested in cognitive benefits, it is recommended that you play stimulating and novel mainstream video games, instead of wasting limited game time on simple "brain training games".

02

Emotional benefits: the game changes the mood

Playing video games helps to change mood and improve emotional state, especially like "Angry Birds" and "Gem Studgling" and platform games like "Super Mario". Playing your favorite games can give you the following emotional benefits:

Immediately improve emotions;

Resisting anxiety;

Experience positive emotions more frequently, such as happiness, curiosity, surprise, pride, surprise, satisfaction, etc.

Video games also help you manage difficult emotions, especially very challenging, thriller, and fierce games, such as "Bioshock", "Resident Evil" and "Silent Hill". People who often play these games will get the following emotional benefits:

To better deal with the frustration and anxiety caused by high pressure;

Purely cooked extreme emotions such as fear and anger.

Players can even cultivate some unusual emotional "superpowers", the most surprising power in it is related to dreaming. The first -person game will vividly show you the game world from the perspective of heroes, such as "My World", "Halo" and "Portal". Those who often play such games will cultivate two amazing skills. They can call the nightmare, just like controlling the characters in the video game to control their own dreams.

They will experience more frequent "Lucid Dreaming", that is, people know that they are dreaming in their dreams and can enjoy dreams, such as enjoying the opportunity to fly.

03

Social benefits: Games allow you to get social skills

Multi -player games and large multiplayer video games can also teach important social skills. Frequent games based on teams, such as "Call of Duty", "League of Legends" and "Legion Fortress", players show:

A stronger cooperation mentality in daily life;

Improvement of communication and collaborative ability.

At the same time, if you often play a game that requires spontaneous teams or directs others in collaborative efforts, such as "Fighting War" and "World of Warcraft", players will get the evaluation of others as follows:

Good at leadership;

Can more effectively motivate others;

Public activities such as participating in volunteer services and raising funding for charity.

04

Playing 21 hours per week is the critical point

我们之所以要理解自我抑制或逃避性玩游戏的内在机制，还有一个重要的原因：它有一个临界点，当超过一定限度，要想避免过度玩电子游戏带来的消极结果，比如抑郁、 Anxiety, poor grades, and social isolation will become extremely difficult.

What is the critical point? I spent 5 years to study this problem. I examined various materials, including how long the soldiers who have been investigated by the military should play games, and when the players investigated by researchers will start to feel that the game is harmful to their own health. And happiness. I repeatedly discovered that the situation was a little bit turned down in a week of playing for about 21 hours a week. Playing 21 hours a week is the critical point.

People who play video games less than 3 hours a day can often gain the benefits of playing games. They reported that a good balance was achieved between game goals and real life goals. However, whether it is for children or adults, playing for more than 3 hours a day means that the game has snatched too much time from the non -game work, learning, physical activity, and interpersonal relationships. Once these life began to be affected, it has cut into a vicious circle of self -suppression.

However, as long as your game time is less than 21 hours, the benefits will be switched back. This is an important discovery. If you want to find a practical intervention for yourself or someone you care about, you don't need to completely quit the game or reduce the game time, just control the total time of the game per week to less than 21 hours. For players who are worried about playing too much, this change is not as scary as giving up the game completely.

Reducing the game every week does not allow people to automatically cut into their self -expansion mentality. However, this will allow people to safely avoid the critical point of self -suppression, eventually let people reduce escape, and develop healthier game habits.

In "Games Change Life", McGonigell revealed the scientific research results of nearly 10 years, including games, sports and psychological construction. She explained how to change our response to stress, challenges and pain, how to cultivate recovery power in daily life, and only need a more "adventure" gaming mentality. When we play games, we show strong psychological advantages, such as optimism, creativity, courage and determination.

Playing is natural, but the game is a double -edged sword, playing with a good time, addicted to injury. Let's develop a healthier game habit together!

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