Health Benefits of Gaming

After having wisdom teeth surgery many people may just want to lie on the couch and possibly watch TV. However, as you begin to feel better perhaps you think about playing some video games until you make a full recovery. Billions of people across the world currently play video games. However, very few of these gamers will expect to gain any real benefits and in fact may think there are more negative effects. Even so, scientists are increasingly showing that gaming can actually be good for your health in a variety of ways, and that video games can have a multitude of physical and cognitive benefits. Gaming has been used in healthcare to treat a variety of disorders. For example, researchers showed that, in those that had recently undergone trauma or had been through a surgical procedure, gaming could help … Read more

Going to the Virtual Beach Improves Dental Experiences

For patients at a dental practice in Devon, England, Virtual Reality encounters in the dental chair can result in demonstrably better experiences. A team of researchers at the Universities of Plymouth, Exeter and Birmingham worked with Torrington Dental Practice in Devon to find out whether virtual experiences could improve the patient’s experience during routine dental procedures such as teeth removal. Patients, who agreed to take part in the study were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: a) standard care , b) a virtual walk around Wembury beach in Devon or c) a walk around an anonymous virtual reality city. Results found that those who ‘walked’ around Wembury beach were less anxious, experienced less pain, and had more positive recollections of their treatment when compared to those in the standard care condition. These benefits were not found for those who walked … Read more