Why playing Space Invaders might be good for your brain Via Acumor

Wouldn’t be awesome if playing video games were actually healthy for you? Well, you’re in luck. A recent New York Times story reported on a new study showing that playing simple video games apparently make your brain younger.

Short-term and long-term gains

According to the story, a simple video game requiring players to swerve around cars and pick out road signs can improve the short-term memory and long-term focus of older adults. Surprisingly, the story says, some players as old as 80 began showing the same neurological patters of people in their 20s.

It Doesn’t Fade

Researchers found, too, that the benefits continued after older adults turned off the video games. This means that older adults again exhibited the neurological patterns of much younger adults when undertaking their day-to-day tasks.

Space Invaders for life?

So, it may be time for our older readers to crack out their long-abandoned copies of Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Any scenario that helps build a younger brain ought to be embraced. And if it requires a few hours of shooting down aliens or gobbling dots to do it? That’s better still.

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(Image Credit – Bing Images )

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