Gaming Makes You Smarter

Okay, so the headline is a bit misleading. The actual science behind it is that 30 minutes of gaming per day may improve some parts of your brain, including spacial orientation, memory formation, and strategic planning, according to a study by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. This makes sense, of course, as all three fall into the category of skills that one should have in order to be good at most games.

The study focused on adults playing 30-minutes per day of Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64. They then used an MRI to see what the effects were and the results were promising.

This is not to say that you should be spending your time gaming rather than more fruitful activities and the study didn’t get into any of the potential negative effects of gaming, but just as a glass of red wine can improve your health, a glass of gaming every day can improve your mind.

Here’s what Buzzfeed had to say about it:

For years, proponents of video games as more than idle time-wasters have argued that the act of playing games can in and of itself boost brain function. A study published yesterday by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, in the prestigious journal Nature, may be the best proof yet that regularly playing video games can actually make your brain more powerful.

Read More: Buzzfeed