Is it time to rethink our views on video games? A new study suggests they might be good for your mind.
Do you like playing video games? It can be a fun pastime. Video games provide an escape from the real world, allowing players to relax and take a break from daily stresses. However, past studies have shown that they can be detrimental to health. Excessive screen time from playing video games can result in computer vision syndrome, a condition characterised by dry eyes, blurred vision, and headaches. It can also lead to circadian rhythm disorders, depression, aggression and anxiety.
Conversely, a team of researchers from various institutions in Japan has found that video games can benefit mental health. They discovered this after asking 97,602 Japanese people to complete a questionnaire designed to measure mental health and the amount of time spent playing games.
According to the researchers, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Japanese people turned to video games as a way to cope with stress and isolation. This led to a surge in demand for gaming consoles, particularly the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 5, resulting in a significant shortage of these devices. So, retailers implemented lottery systems to ensure fair distribution among interested customers.
Based on the completed questionnaires, only 8,192 of the 97,602 participants of the study entered the gaming console lotteries. And among these lottery entrants, roughly one-third were considered “hardcore gamers” (playing over 1.5 hours daily), while approximately 20% were “core gamers” (playing over 1 hour daily). Interestingly, those who won a gaming console through the lotteries had a notable reduction in their psychological distress. They also experienced a significant increase in life satisfaction, which is a key component of mental health.
However, these positive effects seemed to diminish when gaming time exceeded three hours. So, the researchers estimated that only three hours per day should be spent playing video games to enjoy its benefits.
“Our findings align with experimental studies and demonstrate causal evidence of the positive gaming effect outside the laboratory environment,” said the researchers. “The findings contradict previous observational studies; this inconsistency could be due to the lack of causal inference in those studies.”
The study provides intriguing insights into the health effects of playing video games. In particular, it found that playing video games for less than three hours per day can significantly improve mental well-being. Thus, it prompts the need for more studies to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between media use and health.
The full discussion of the study has been published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Human Behaviour.