Improve Your Brain Function: Can Casino Games Help?

Games have long now been touted as great ways to keep your brain fit and mental juice flowing. Yet, to test whether games truly have the fortifying effects on the brain that are usually ascribed to them, we will have to look a little further. Whether it is casino games or brain teasers, each game should be taken on its own merits.

In fact, the game itself is just as important as the attitude of those participating. After all, is a game any more likely to help you improve your brain function if you are not paying attention as is anyone not paying attention in a physics class likely to understand the principles of thermodynamics?

Thankfully, we won’t talk physics here and take a stab at what makes our brains tick and how we can reinforce this mysterious clockwork. Games, as it turns out, are one great way to keep your grey matter active.

We break this topic into four sections:

• Attitude Matters
• Some Games Are Just Better
• Card games
• Blackjack – Mathematical Perfection

1. Attitude Matters: Why Some Casino Games Help Improve Your Brain Function?

Homo sapiens are a fairly new species. Some 90,000 years ago, we were roaming free around the steppes of Africa. Then, education came and it was a blessing with the majority of our species members enrolling to study and pick useful skills.

Yet, as it turns out, 90,000 years is not enough to overcome our desire to roam free. And so, educators have had to become more creative in suggesting new and engaging ways to make the education process less of a duress for people. Because, long story short, focusing a learner’s attention is the surest way that they might learn.

Understandably, games are all the rage in the classroom today and they help boost cognitive function, but the question is – by how much?

According to one study published at Harvard Health, the game itself matters a great deal. Some games wouldn’t make a dent on your brain in the sense of help you show any improvement.

….simply playing games that require concentration won’t help you remember important names, faces, and appointments . – Christine Junge

Those games are usually those that you don’t actively engage with. Extrapolating to casino gaming, you can see how playing slot games is not very helpful. Slots are fun but there is very little decision-making involved.

On the flipside, focusing on more specialized games that bring a bit of mental challenge with that can quickly bring significant benefits to learners. Therefore, even simple brain teasers as sudoku, crossroad puzzles and playing board games are guaranteed to the bring you some benefits.

2. Some Games Are Just Better Fit to Improve Your Brain Function

As it turns out, some simple in nature games can still have positive effects on the brain. Bingo, for example, looks like a cousin to slots, but as it turns out, people who play bingo are far more likely to score higher on mental tests, Julie Winstone, a cognitive psychologist, discovered in a trial. 

You might be almost inclined to make a humorous jest about bingo halls packed with elderly people, but the truth is these old-timers are keeping their brains fit, even if they are not entirely aware of the process that goes in the background.

But this study also points to another interesting evidence – stimulating your brain, in whatever form, is bound to drive better results. Multiple studies have collaborated the claim that mentally stimulating games can lead to longevity, help you deter the early onset of mental disorders, although not help you avoid it completely, and generally keep you in focus well past your prime.

Of course, it doesn’t all boil down to crossroad puzzles, bingo games or even board games. There are many great options to try and card games you will find at casinos are definitely a great deal of help.

3. Card Games and the In-Depth Strategies That Go Hand-in-Hand

Stimulating the mind is the surest way to guarantee yourself a healthy life. Well, that and a healthy diet paired with some moderate exercise day in and day out. Yet, the casino games that help you keep your mental juices flowing are poker and blackjack.

Regardless of the game you play, both games come with a mathematical and strategical depth that, so long as you are willing to learn, you will quickly come to appreciate. The effects on the brain are there, and while no comprehensive study has been carried out on poker players in particular, some broad-stroke suggestions have been made.

According to Forbes, playing poker will make you a better investor, playing the long game and able to overlook short-term risk to always come on the better side of a bottom line. Maria Konnikova is another great example that the more intellectually apt you are, the better player you tend to be.

Konnikova is a psychologist and academic who has decided to explore poker for research purposes, but ended up winning over $311,368 and she seems relentless and determined to continue. But far more importantly, poker stimulates the brain and is one of the most challenging games.

4. Blackjack – No Probabilities, Just Pure Mathematical Perfection

Blackjack is another game that can really help you boost your focus and concentration. Far more importantly, of course, it will help you train your short and long-term memory, and ability to retain vast troves of essential information longer than the average brain.

In fact, blackjack is often referred to as a memory sport and people who beat the game – or the casino – are often showing exceptional mental aptitude. Similar to memorizing a whole dictionary at once or being the best spelling bee contestant, understanding these seemingly complicated and overwhelming bits and bobs of how something works can train a brain that outshines the average mind.

Of course, these mental faculties are not a merit on their own unless you tie them to something more significant. Rote learning – a learning techique using memorization via repetition – is not the same as understanding blackjack probability for example.

While learning by heart might have some upsides, the real benefits would come only after playing Blackjack for real and appreciating your knowledge and skill and investing it into new and more challenging endeavors.

Final Verdict: Can Casino Games Help Brain Function?

The good news is that – yes, casino games can improve your brain function a fair deal, but then again – you have to make a conscious effort as it has always been the case.