Can the new Nintendo computer games for the over40s really improve brain power?
Computer gaming is undergoing a transformation. It’s no longer the preserve of solitary geeks in their bedrooms. It is being adopted by 40-year-olds, embraced by 60-year-olds and even has devotees who are centenarians – and all in the pursuit of health and fitness. But surely, you might think, gaming is the ultimate in unhealthy, sedentary pursuits? You’d be wrong. The stereotypical games player is indeed a black-clad male teenager in his bedroom, locked in the multiple levels of Mortal Kombat, or any of those other shoot-’em-up/fantasy/ race games. And, yes, games playing is cited as the cause of everything from obesity to acne, although with precious little evidence to support such claims. But I suspect that much of its bad-health press has been generated because older adults are excluded from it, both by gaming’s complexity and by the level of skill that is needed to trash stroppy teenage offspring. So, first of all, is there any evidence that gaming has any physiological effects on
