Board games provide psychological and social benefits for all ages. On the other side, they can be addictive, time-consuming, and creates unnecessary competition and stress that is uncontrollable.
There is a grey area when it comes to playing board game, and promoting the healthy benefits is key to nurturing a positive interaction.
Are board games healthy? Yes, board games are healthy for any age. From increasing family time to minimizing stress, board games influence health positively when played in a responsible manner.
In addition, board games increase brain function, lower blood pressure, and boost your immune system with help from endorphins that release within your body.
However, you may wonder what exactly makes board games healthy and how they is good for your brain.Popular games such as checkers, monopoly, mastermind, chess, clue, life, checkers, connect 4 and so forth can be healthy when played.
In this article, we will review why board games are important to play and what health benefits are provided to help you make choices towards playing board games instead of video games. Additionally, frequently asked questions about the benefits of healthy board games are answered along with tips to make your favorite board games even healthier.
Why are board games important?
Board games are vital for any age. They bring family, friends, and acquaintances together for fun and a little brain workout. In addition, board games help make you smarter by being the fastest way to learn new vocabulary and strategy skills.
Board games are important in the following ways:
- The brain is identical to a muscle because it sharpens with more mental exercises. Playing board games at least 2 times per week enhances the speed of the brain functions, and can improve elementary student’s scores by an average of 30%.
- Improve cognitive function, a stronger inquisitiveness, and creativity in children.
- Have a long impact and influence till old age because it has demonstrated the ability of minimizing dementia, Alzheimer, and other cognitive declines.
- Help in creating a strong correlation between playful activity and successful attributes.
- Assist overcoming shyness by acquiring self-esteem and self-confidence.
- Support people of all ages, even older people.
- Promote memory function and mental stimulation for higher-level performance.
- Improve verbal communication, social skills, motor skills, interactions, taking turns, cooperation, patience, focus, enhances life span, and are very enjoyable.
From memory focused to strategy centered, there are different types of board games for everyone to enjoy. No matter what board game you play, each individual game contains benefits that improve your health in cognitive or social skills for all ages.
Health Benefits of Board Game
Board games can influence health in a positive way. They make you free of stress with some laughter that help to release endorphins, it is a great and healthy way to release stress by encouraging family time.
Some health benefits of the board game:
- Family time: Board games create an opportunity for family time together and bond with each other. Simple strategy or teamwork games can bring family member close together to get to know in depth personalities even better.
- Cognitive and memory formation: The brain regions are responsible for cognitive and memory formation. It influences the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, while minimizing mental disease, risk and stress.
- Minimizes danger for mental illness: The games engage your mind to make it stronger through exercise. The brain becomes sharper and lowers the risk of cognitive decline.
- Minimizes BP: Games give you an enjoyable time with the release of endorphins and laughter to reduce stress and lower blood pressure.
- Paces your response: The response system of kids/adults playing board games is quicker than the one who doesn’t.
- Minimizes stress: Play games to relax, unwind and alleviate stress.
- Improves your immunity: It enhances positive feelings and thoughts thereby improving your immunity.
- Therapy: Board games make use of motor skills that involve dexterity and coordination that become very therapeutic.
- Overall development: It develops reasoning, logic, boosts critical thinking and spatial reasoning, which leads to improvements in concentration as well.
Boards games like Trivial Pursuit or Scrabble provide real life information and knowledge in simplified game way that can be very useful to delay logic and reasoning skills. The enjoyment and laughter when playing board game releases positive chemicals that help you to fight off disease and keep you healthy.
Reasons to Play Board Game
Birthday party or game night is not the only reason to play board games. The most important reason to play board games is that it provides health as well as psychological benefits.
Encouraging one another to play board games can help to boost intelligence, brain, and logic while having adventure, fun, and enjoyment.
Some reasons to play board game are:
- Feel good: Laughing while being around family and friends is a good way to enhance endorphins, which are chemicals that boost your happiness. Sharing fun and being joyful can promote trust, empathy, and compassion.
- Family time: Having family time together while learning and having fun is the best way to bond with your loved ones. It brings you closer to each other and strengthening the ties.
- Cognitive skills: Games can enhance problem-solving skills that benefit the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
- Minimizes mental illness: Issues such as Alzheimer’s and dementia are lowered when you play board games. It minimizes cognitive decline making your mind stronger through exercise.
- Minimizes blood pressure: Blood pressure is minimized by playing board games due to the release of endorphins. This helps the circulation of blood by relaxing the muscles and easing flow.
There are many reasons to play board game on a special occasion. Playing board game enhances immunity, makes your life stress-free, and is therapeutic.
Overall, they have demonstrated the ability to improve life in more than one aspect.
Tips to make board games healthy
Everyone enjoys playing games together and sharing a wonderful relaxing time. It’s your job to make it interesting for you and the others who are playing them.
By following useful practical advice, you can make playing board games healthy and enjoyable at the same time.
Here are expert tips to make board games healthy:
- Laughter: Ensure the board game play is a little exciting and fun. It is not all about learning, but enhancing social skills and improving together time. Make the most of it with laughter as this releases endorphins that relax you and also relieve stress.
- Together time: A board game can give you the best bonding time that will inculcate together time by cooperation and handling interaction, especially if you are making romantic date night with loved ones or play with wife to bond and take the relationship to the next level.
- Engaging and interactive: Board games give you opportunities for teamwork, cooperation, and helping each other by being interactive and engaging.
- Assist them wisely: Kids may need help, but don’t help them by judging. Give them space to handle the game on their own, while giving guidance at places where it is needed the most.
- Knowledgeable: Choose board games that provide a knowledgable experience that can enhance hand-eye coordination, motor skills, color-shape-number matching, word recognition, memory matching, and so on.
If you are trying to improve overall health, board games are a great addition to the mix. It provides for fun activities that can help anyone to improve their quality of life and memory.
Learning new skills, and following rules and guidelines can help you boost brainpower with cognitive skills.
How Board Games are Healthy: Conclusion
Board games can enhance your health by bringing family, friends, and loved ones together with a little laughter, competition, logic, entertainment, strategy, cooperation and other fun elements. They can create a great impact on your health at varied phases of your life at any age.
The simple move and action of having fun can help reduce stress, boost serotonin, relieve symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and more.
That is why board games are important for all ages. From promoting memory functions to enhance communication and motor skills, it helps children to learn faster and seniors to improve dementia by playing simple board games.
Not only improving relationship of family and friends, board games provide overall health benefits by minimizing stress, strengthening immunity, and therapeutic healing to sooth tense muscles.
Board games do not need to be played on a special occasion, and you can even play them alone. Play anytime whether it is indoor or outdoor depending on the weather, and it will make you feel good instantly by increasing human interaction instead of plugging into social media.
There you have it! Board games are healthy both physically and mentally. Engage, interact, and the most importantly have fun with it to reap the rewards!