Finally, a New Year’s resolution you’ll actually have fun
keeping: Play with your smartphone more. In fact, doing so might even turn out
to be a great way to improve your mental health, combat clinical depression or
anxiety, and promote healthy aging.
With the release of a large number of health and wellness
apps, including Apple’s® Health in October of this past
year, more people are beginning to use their smartphones to help improve their
health and wellness. With just a quick search you can find free applications
that help you track and make
healthier food choices, get more exercise by training
for a 5k, and learn to meditate and better manage
stress.
We know improving your physical health is helpful to your
mental health, but now there are also apps directly targeted at boosting your
mental well-being. There are free
applications to help you cope with
symptoms of PTSD and even the app “Happier®” that
helps you learn and practice the behaviors and thinking patterns of happier
people.
Eat right, exercise, manage your stress, and learn positive
thinking patterns: Those are time-proven, effective strategies for improving
your mental health. Having these tools at your fingertips can help make doing
these behaviors easier and more fun. Many of the apps can also connect you to
other people working on the same goal, giving you much-needed social support
and accountability.
But there’s another, more surprising way you can use your
smartphone for better mental health: Play more video games.
Yes, you heard that correctly. Play more video games. Not
“good for you” or “special healthy” video games. I’m talking about regular,
normal, actually fun video games. East Carolina University published a study that
suggests that playing games (like the popular smartphone games Bejeweled®
or Bookworm®) for 30 minutes per day can help alleviate
clinical depression and anxiety. Not just for the day, but a month later at levels that rival the effectiveness of medication.
There’s also evidence
that video games aren’t just good for young people, but that continuing to play
(or starting a new habit) in older years actually promotes a more positive
aging experience, and helps alleviate depression in older adults.
So go ahead, break out that smartphone on the bus ride home
from work, or get a phone and download some apps for grandma. No need for it to
be a guilty pleasure, you’re just fulfilling your New Year’s resolution to take
better care of your mental health.
