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#1 Video Games
Some video games are a good source of brain stimulant. These also include the computer games that your children play which provide them with problems to solve or force them to think quickly. Scientific studies have shown that playing the popular game Tetris, a tile-matching puzzle video game, leads to more efficient brain activity. As you become more proficient at this game, your brain will show reduced consumption of glucose, a human body’s main fuel. This study concludes that reduction in glucose consumption occurs when learning has taken place. This is because less effort is required to carry out the activity when you become more proficient in any activity. Hence, after you have mastered the game of Tetris, you will need to exert less effort when you encounter a similar scenario as in the game. As a result, you tend to become smarter. When your children plays first person shooter games, advise them to get into the atmosphere, look at details and behave as though every move is real. This way they don’t mindlessly finish the game. They will also stimulate the brain to think more as compared to just using reflexive actions.
#2 Board Games
Board games are all about taking risks with your brain. Board games such as Scrabble and Chess help to stimulate your brain by making you think of how to solve certain problem. Practice makes perfect and after a while your brain gets better at the same game. Eventually, you will master the game. At this point, your brain stops working as hard. It doesn’t expend the resources or trigger that dopamine rush that helps make you smarter. This is time that you should advise your children to move on to other games if you want them to constantly be stimulating their brain to work hard.
#3 Logic/ Strategy Games
Logic games helps you to work your brain in new ways. Take cryptology for example. The effort that takes you to crack a puzzle is actually putting stress on your brain in a good way. It may be challenging at first for some people. However, after a while it is bound to become enjoyable as your brain adapts to the stress it is being put through. Some logic and strategy games can include crossword puzzles and Sudoku. These games stimulate your mind and thought processes. People may not consider word-searches thought provoking, but if practised a lot, it can prove to be stimulating.
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#4 Sports
When we speak about games that enhance intelligence, most people would start to think about video games or strategy games. However, sports can also contribute to the enhancing of one’s intelligence. In sports, no matter what game you are playing, it is vital that you are able to come up with an effective strategy to win the game. Take soccer, for example. Before the match starts, the manager has to predict the formation that the opponent is going to play and then set his team’s formation accordingly. This requires a great deal of planning and thinking. This is not to say that the players aren’t making use of their brain too. During the game, players also have the responsibility of identifying any flaws in their game and make split second decisions in order to win the game. Another example would be tennis. Although tennis only involves only two or at the most four opponents, there is a lot of brainwork involved in it. This is because like all sports, players are tasked with making split second decisions or feigning their shots in order to win the game. Hence, these example vividly illustrates how physical games can also promote thinking and creativity, thus enhancing intelligence in the long haul.
One last note…
As such, you have seen how various games can help you to improve or enhance your intelligence. However, there is also a need to emphasise that too much of anything can cause adverse effects on your children’s health. Such effects include short sightedness, addiction and other health related problems. This is especially so in the context of video games whereby there were instances when gamers become so immersed in games that they died of over-exhaustion after playing video games for several days without rest. Hence, it is fundamental for you as parents to monitor your children and prevent them from getting addicted to these games. Other than that, the occasional playing of these games would help in the budding of your children to improve their psychomotor skills, develop thinking skills and forge their minds for the better in the long run.
