How Playing Games Will Improve Your Mental Performance
It's not only children who need to play but adults as well, yet many forget this even though it will aid their mental performance too.
Playing games improves mental performance.
But if that’s the case why did we bother sitting in school for hours on end with books out reading, learning, studying, and entertaining problems?
And that’s a good question.
After all, if we wanted to learn why did we confuse the issue with something that’s not as much fun as playing is?
Hmm, well for one, our education system needed to make sure that it can test us and then categorize us as being either good or bad learners.
Yet if we wanted to enjoy school all we needed to do is play more games. For there’s huge learning in playing games.
I used to teach in many different schools and as I`d journey from one to the other for substitution work quite often the children and young people wouldn’t know me.
When a stranger, even if they’re a new teacher, comes into a classroom the children get excited. Because all they want to do is drop their books and get to know the new person.
Not only is it a nice diversion from the books but it’s far more entertaining to see someone in front of you who’ll express themselves.
And you can learn a lot from them too.
But this can only go on for so long. After all, you have to cover the curriculum in schools because that’s the law. Still, games and interaction are how a lot of children prefer to learn.
Many prefer to have that interactive experience with others in their company who are allowed to express themselves. From here they are not only learning from what they are saying but from what they are doing.
One trick I used to do as a teacher was to promise all the children a big quiz at the end of the week. This would allow them to express themselves, connect with their classmates, interact, and they could be tested for their learning during the week. It also meant that throughout the week they’d be especially careful to understand the work they were doing so that they would know it for their team as the weekend came around.
And it worked a treat.
But it’s not only children who love games as adults love them too.
One such game that’s very popular with adults is Sudoku. Sudoku improves mental functioning for all ages. And it prevents brain aging too. Based on the understanding of the first 9 numbers and the relationships between them, it’s a short and sharp test of how they relate to one another.
By playing it you’re using your logical skills, your brain speed, response time, and your overall cognitive functioning.
Chess is another game that captures the minds of adults.
It boosts cognitive working memory, concentration, and fluid intelligence. Although its relationship with benefiting the majority of mathematical skills has been proven to be false in some studies, it does however improve problem-solving abilities.
Then there are even easier games that adults love.
Card games are great for mental functioning and they’re highly interactive. Games like match, matching pairs, memory, or pairs promote fun and are a simple way to flip cards over and back and speedily learn the face of the suits and their specific location on the table. This instant action allows the frontal cortex of the brain to organize and plan while also drawing from the hippocampus’s ability to understand spatial representations.
It also involves concentration which is important in learning and strengthening neural activity.
Adults also love working together. Like children who can enjoy their time learning alone, they often like to mix that up with learning and working together. And that’s when teamwork comes in.
Although they are playing to win, there’s a lot received by simply working together.
By putting aside differences of opinion and negative experiences together and coupling your knowledge and problem-solving capabilities you’re supporting one another to try to achieve something that will make you and the other person happy. The political divisions that have come about from working with another over the years are thrown out and momentary interactions dominate the need to compete and combine efforts to beat the other team.
And this celebrates human connection as well as aiding mental performance.
From there you can begin to decipher who is a follower and who is a leader. You can also see who is best as an organizer and who is best left to communicate things.
And you`ll notice how people react to feeling under pressure.
Yet so many businesses and corporations fail to play games. They ignore them because they think it’s a waste of time. But it’s a great way for employees to practice their softer skills with other people in a light-hearted and fun environment.
The person that was hired in an interview who wore the formal suit and tie and had everything learned off to impress those that were in front of them is now a different animal. They’re unleashing their true personality and going back into their childlike self by being allowed off the leash to play a game.
Surely that’s a good thing?
Finding out about the current strengths and weaknesses of your employees, letting them have some fun, and understanding what is their best role when they play in a team is all attained from playing games.
And all you have to do is let the adults be children again and the child inside will teach the leaders what they want.
So, let people play more games and watch to see how their performance will improve or not.
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