Video Games Improve Your Eyesight

If you’re anything like me, you have a stigma about time you spend in front of a screen. It doesn’t matter if it’s a computer screen, a TV screen, or a video game screen, I have this nagging voice in my head telling me that I’m rotting my brain.

That’s not really true, though. TV is a passive exercise without a lot of benefits beyond the occasionally entertaining show, but video games and computer time can be beneficial.

Your computer gives you the chance to discover useful information and to keep in closer contact with loved ones.

Video games have advantages, too. Most recently, research shows that playing video games may help improve certain aspects of your vision.

A study appearing in Nature Neuroscience reveals that adults who play action-based video games show a marked improvement in their ability to notice differences in shades of gray. Normally, improving your eye’s contrast perception requires glasses or even surgery.

Video games with a lot of action seem to train your brain’s visual centers to be more aware of subtle differences in shades of gray. Video game play can actually improve contrast vision by as much as 58 percent, and the improvements will last for months.

Eye doctors are excited about this news. It means that patients with poor night vision can improve their situation without surgery. They also believe that video game play may prove a useful complement to traditional eye-correction techniques.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace