Game On! Top 8 Benefits Of Playing Video Games

Video games have a reputation for causing unnecessary distractions on both children and adults. However, there are also some benefits of playing video games.

Mental Floss compiled a list of the positive effects of playing video games. However, everyone should remember that excessive playing of video games can also be very dangerous and harmful to a person's career, health and of course, relationships with others.

One of the benefits of playing video games is its effectiveness in developing better surgeons. Surgeons who played, at least, three hours of video games every week made fewer errors during procedures compared to the surgeons who did not play video games -- as stated in the findings of an experiment.

Video games can also help people with dyslexia or those who have reading and writing difficulties. The constant changes of environment found in many video games require strong focus, which encourages dyslexic people to improve their reading comprehension skills.

Another benefit of playing video games is that it helps develop improvisational skills. "Improvising in a game can also translate into being faster on your feet when an office crisis crops up," the article shared.

Video games can also spark people's interest in history. Many games use historical events, characters, locations and objects which can make video game players become more interested in history.

Online and offline sports games can also help people become interested in playing sports. Exposure to sports games such as basketball, football and tennis video games could lead people to trying out those sports in real life as they have experienced the thrill and fun even on a virtual setting.

Some video games can also help stimulate the mental processes of gamers. Games that promote problem solving, memorization and puzzle solving can help develop a stronger brain for gamers. A person's planning skills might also be developed by playing video games as reported by Live Strong.

One of the benefits of playing videos is to provide a distraction from painful stimuli. "Playing can actually produce an analgesic (pain-killing) response in our higher cortical systems," the Mental Floss article explained. "The more immersive, the better-which is why pending virtual reality systems may one day be as prevalent in hospitals as hand sanitizer."