For years, we have heard about the belief that playing video games is synonymous with immaturity or even that they have the ability to make people violent. On the other hand, it has also been established that they can have benefits at a neuronal level and, under a similar premise, psychology seems to have found another point in their favor.

If you are a millennial between 30 or 40 years old who today enjoys playing on your console, you have surely received comments of ridicule or contempt. However, the World Health Organization supports this activity thanks to a key concept that will have benefits as soon as you reach 70: Active Aging.

We will not go into how neural networks work, but what is established by the WHO can be summarized in simple words. If we simplify it, Active Aging means that the further we get into old age the deterioration of our brain increases, but by then we must carry out activities that stimulate us.

So, adults who have entered the world of video games since childhood and have continued until their 30s, would, without knowing it, train such stimulation. As a consequence, this stimulation at the neuronal level could delay the onset of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Although neurological studies cannot yet demonstrate with certainty this relationship between games and their benefits for future older adults, it is estimated that the networks constantly generated by this hobby They will remain active in the future. In other words, players who are in their 30s shape what is known as Cognitive Reserve.

In this way, in a scenario where neuronal deterioration will occur naturally, the psychologists’ approach is that those who have been fond of video games will compensate for the brain damage. Thus, by the time they are 70 years old they will have an advantage given the additional networks built throughout your life.

An example of this could be observed when a study was carried out in which people played Super Mario 64 for 6 months and, after that time, they showed increases in their gray matter. The difference here is that the results of this premise could not be seen until millennials reach old age.

In other words, at a theoretical level there is sufficient evidence to assume that players will have a better future at a cognitive level. However, those results will not be visible yet. The most that can be done is to wait until in 40 years someone dedicates themselves to studying the mental health of the elderly and manages to demonstrate that those who played video games they aged better than the rest.

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