Can gaming be beneficial?

[Flex]

As quite a new father, gamer.geek and a fitness enthusiast this is something I have always thought of.
How can gaming influence your health?

As with anything, being over exposed can be harmful to a person without having some kind of balance.
Sitting 8+ hours daily in front of a PC and not being active can't be good for you. So say you have a good balanced life style ( good diet, good posture, active and game ), what effects will gaming have on you?

I think the brain gets affected mostly by gaming if you have a balanced life style. Does it make you smarter, quicker and more efficient? Or will it make your brain lazy and slow to real life situations?

" In the study, researchers found that video game players had more gray matter in two areas of the brain associated with learning motor skills, compared with people who did not play video games.

In addition, the video game players in the study had quicker reaction times, according to the study, conducted by researchers in Poland"

This is an extract from an article I found [SOURCE]

I tend to agree with this study with regard to reaction time and solving problems.

what do you guys think? And to the parents, what do you expose your child to with regards to "gaming"

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[BeoTeK]

As with anything, being over exposed can be harmful to a person without having some kind of balance.
Sitting 8+ hours daily in front of a PC and not being active can't be good for you. So say you have a good balanced life style ( good diet, good posture, active and game ), what effects will gaming have on you?

This is probably why I prefer console gaming of late. I spend all day in front of a PC at work, I don't want to then be in front of one when I get home.

My son, now (almost) 5 years old, plays the odd game with me. Specifically things like Forza. He loves driving around the open world and bashing (and seeing) the effects of the damage. I am a firm believer that games are an excellent method of hand-eye coordination.
That being said, I also believe in the method of everything in moderation. He doesn't spend much time and I tell him to go play, the same goes for time on his tablet too. We spend time outside, down at the beach or any physical activity too. We also spend a LOT of time together, being a single parent has it's perks and we are able to do this. It also helps not living in an area that forces you to travel and hour or two to and from work, may sound stupid, but getting home at 5pm is a big difference to getting home at 7pm.

But I digress... there have been scenarios where I have, and still do put off social engagements just so I can go/stay home and play games. I do however miss my cycling, but this is more due to being a single parent and time constraints than directly related to games. I have become unfit and it bothers me.

 

[czc]

I watched a TEDx talk about one of the benefits of gaming once.

In the lab, Bavelier and her team measure the impact of gameplay on the brain. While your mom might have told you that staring at screens will wreck your eyes, Bavelier’s lab actually found that playing 5 to 15 hours a week of video games correlates with better vision — and the ability to see more detail in the context of clutter.

And a link to all the videos from TED: http://blog.ted.com/7-talks-on-the-benefits-of-gaming/