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Playing Brain Games For Mental Health
Do video games get a bad rap?
I love playing video games. I used to be massively addicted to the original Civ game by Sid Meier, the one with the cheesy sound effects. But it was a great game! Later I got absorbed into the world of the Elder Scroll series. I loved playing a Redguard and wandering the beautifully rendered landscapes of Daggerfell, Morrowind, and Skyrim.
I thought of video games as just a pleasant distraction, but then I read something about how one reason the US military did so well is that it was filled with soldiers who played shooters as boys. Is it true? Seems like it might make sense. Plus I’ve played games that helped me learn to play piano or figure out better money managing strategies. Plus there are tools like flight simulators and such.
What I never anticipated was that video games would help me stay mentally sharp after brain surgery.
Yet, that seems to be working for me.
After my surgery, I recognized a certain level of cognitive decline. It terrified me. When I asked close friends for honest feedback — they gave me the truth. I was sometimes confused, sometimes forgot things, sometimes tripped over words.
Yet a few weeks later, the same friends told me I was sharp again.
