How Bingo Can Improve the Workings of the Brain
A Pastime with a Purpose
The traditional image of bingo is a game played by pensioners. When you speak to young people about the possibility of playing bingo, their response is often shocked silent or even guffaws. This is the stereotype that we have grown with on bingo and a stereotype that will live with us for quite some time. However it must be understood that bingo is much more than some dodgy film advert. It is an entertaining pastime for millions of people around the world. In this article I will be looking particularly at the relationship between playing bingo and keeping your mind active even in old age.
The Mind and Play
The principle of "use it or lose it" applies to the brain in the same way that it applies to other aspects of our lives. It is of fundamental importance in your old age to participate in pastime that stimulates your brain and allows you to have some semblance of a social life. The first part of this process is that bingo forces you to interact with other people since you need to be playing with them in order to achieve any sort of parity. This means that your lifestyle is transformed and you meet new people with whom you may share certain experiences and knowledge. The art of interaction means that your mind is constantly practicing those skills which used to come naturally without prompting when you were young.
The second issue is that when you play bingo, you have the opportunity to use life skills such as strategy and risk taking. You need to be a very patient and astute person if you are ever going to succeed in Bingo. It also calls upon some mathematical competence in order to maneuver yourself out of the issues that may be preventing you from getting to the winning score. You will be expected to monitor your own scores and ensure that you can correctly identify the difference between making a win and making a loss. This is what keeps the brain alive after years of inactivity that a pensionable age would bring about.
Research has shown that pensioners who play bingo, tend to age less fast and less drastically than those who do not in terms of their mental facilities. That is why many elderly nursing homes encourage Bingo as a social activity for all residents so that they can be prevented from slipping into senility. Of course if you have mental breakdowns without proper treatment, no amount of Bingo will bring you back. However with Bingo you can successfully delay the time of your mental deterioration and even when it happens, you can significantly reduce its effects.
Bingo is one of those daily activities that young people take for granted until they become older. However it is a very enjoyable way of keeping your mind active and able to cope with other tasks that are demanded of it.