04 Nov Playing computer games for happiness!
Thanks once again to Gimundo.com for this happiness relevant article…
Mind Games that Make You Feel Good
11/2/2007
When you imagine the typical videogame addict, you probably think of a ten-year-old boy hunched in front of a jumbo TV screen in his family’s game room. And while young (and young-at-heart) men do make up a large percentage of the audience for videogames like Halo, Doom, and Guitar Hero III, you might be surprised to know who else is getting pretty good with the console: Their grandparents.
We know your dear old Granny probably isn’t spending her idle hours playing Grand Theft Auto IV (though we’re not ones to judge), but these days, thousands of senior citizens are getting into videogames of a different variety. All across the United States, hundreds of nursing homes have begun providing their residents with videogames like Nintendo’s Brain Age – and it’s not just a way to keep them busy: Brain teaser games like these can keep their minds sharp and active well into the golden years. In a recent study from Australia’s University of New South Wales, Dr. Michael Valenzuela confirmed, “it is a case of ‘use it or lose it’. If you increase your brain reserve over your lifetime, you seem to lessen the risk of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.”
To read the rest of this story, that could very well boost your happiness…click here.