We all love games. They are an amazing way of spending time, and a great social activity for a group of friends.
We also all know how great educational board games are for children’s development – but did you know that board games hugely benefit adults too?
From reducing cognitive decline to helping manage illness, board games truly are the gift that keeps on giving.
Here’s just a few ways in which board games help us:
They Improve Cognitive Function
You know that feeling when you have played a game often enough that you start to feel you’re becoming better at it? That’s improved cognitive function.
Board games help us to improve our memory, attention and decision-making skills. Whether it’s remembering where the piece is we are looking for, or keep focussed on the moves of everyone around us to find the hidden culprit, board games encourage us to use our brains in many different ways, including some we don’t tend to use regularly in other parts of our lives.
In the same way that running and lifting weights improves our physical skills, the more we do a mental activity, the better we become at it. The neural pathways strengthen in our brains through practice, meaning that we get better at these cognitive functions over time.
This is also prevalent with high-end cognitive functions, such as when strategy games ask us to think ahead of our next move, thinking two or three steps ahead (at least). Similarly, games with elements of chance or luck mean you must react quickly to an unexpected situation. This improves our cognitive flexibility and then helps us cope when plans change in our day to day lives, e.g. train cancellations.
They Reduce Cognitive Decline!
This took me by surprise when researching, but it’s true! Evidence suggests that, by keeping our brains active through playing of board games, we show less cognitive decline with age. In addition, those that play board games regularly also have a lower risk of dementia!
Increase our Creativity
As adults, dependent on your job or hobbies, we often have less chances to be creative.
Board games help fix that.
Whether it’s thinking outside of the box to plan your next move, or creating insane sentences in Cards Against Humanity to make your friends laugh, board games actually help provide a channel for creativity, and one that then can feed back into our day to day lives.
For example, when a problem comes up at work, we need to use our creative problem-solving skills. It is then that all those times we had to try and find your way back into a game of Quacks of Quedlinburg by trying a new approach, or those games of Dixit where you finally think of that perfect clue to win the game are actually are giving you the creativity to find that work problem solution!
Board games improve social bonds
Board games and hosting board games evenings are an excuse for us to get together with our friends and family and play together in a way that, if board games were not there, you may not do as regularly.
This means they also become a vehicle for strengthening social bonds. This is obvious when it comes to playing co-operative games or Dungeons and Dragons (a game that deserves a whole other article on its benefits) or Forbidden Desert, but is also the case when it comes to competitive games too.
Regardless of the result, we still have a fun experience together, and create memories to look back on, strengthening communication and bonds within a group (even if we were a bit annoyed we lost at the time – it’s fine, it happens to us all).
Supporting our mental wellbeing
Games make us feel good, we all know that.
So it’s no wonder really that they do amazing things for our mental health.
Whether you manage a mental illness or not, games are a great way of providing stress relief after a busy day, releasing endorphins into our brains – the happy hormone that helps reduce stress and anxiety.
Games’ escapist qualities also mean that they’re a perfect way to be someone else for a bit, to get out of our day-to-day world and into something fantastical, as well as providing a focus to come out of our minds and into the present moment, particularly useful for anyone who is managing anxiety disorders or depression.
Board games also help prevent loneliness, a huge factor in our mental health that makes a huge difference to our wellbeing and boosts our confidence.
Let’s go gaming
In summary, board games are amazing. They offer us so much, even if we may not realise just how good they are for our brains as we play!
So, if you were looking for an excuse for your next board game evening, tell people the facts here, and you’ll have a session booked in before you know it!
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