How To Boost Your Mental Focus While Gaming

How To Boost Your Mental Focus While Gaming 

Gaming is a fun way to exercise your brain. Research by the American Psychological Association says that playing videos can improve your various cognitive skills, including memory, reasoning, navigation, and perception. As exciting as these may be, most gamers are vulnerable to distraction during gaming. Aside from texts, DMs, and emails, a few things can ruin your in-game focus and experience. Here are some techniques to improve your mental focus while gaming. 

• Regularly exercising

The need for regular exercising can’t be over-emphasized. And for gamers who sit for long hours behind their consoles, maintaining an active body outside gaming hours is crucial. There are many reasons to exercise, including improving your cognitive function and focus. Research says that persons who exercise have stronger concentration levels and the capacity to maintain attention for two to three hours more than those who don't. Therefore, working out before gaming can be a useful tool to boost your focus, brainpower, and motivation while gaming. 

• Listen to your body 

Many gamers who play for long hours sometimes forget to eat or even use the bathroom. However, you become tenser as you stay hungry for longer, lowering your gaming performance and energy. So put in the effort to eat a healthy meal before gaming. It is also advisable to avoid coffee, sugar, and alcohol before gaming since these could affect your sleep quality. Staying awake into the morning can affect your focus since sleep deprivation harms your physical and mental health. Try to get enough sleep and listen to your body to be at your very best. 

• Take regular breaks 

It would be best to take at least a 5-minute break for every hour of gameplay. This isn't only beneficial for your physical health but your eyes and brain. Your senses and neurons can be overwhelmed when you are confined to a visually sophisticated display for a lengthy period. This doesn't only tire you out but raises the likelihood of attention fatigue. Taking your eyes away from the screen or frequently moving around can refresh your senses. Ensure to minimize your mental exhaustion since gaming while fatigued can slow your reaction times and impair your cognitive capacity. Fortunately, taking regular breaks can allow you to return to performing at your best, so keep this in mind. 

Speaking of breaks, sometimes it’s just a good idea to take a break from one game and play another. For example, if you’ve been playing an intensive video game for the last few hours (or even days), why not take a break from it and give your mind something else to think about, maybe something that’s slower-paced and not so stress-inducing like some old fashion checkers? If you think about it, giving yourself a chance to temporarily check out of one game and play another can help your mind, but it’s going to help you not feel so tired or even burn out of a game.

• Mindfulness training 

Although mindfulness and meditation are usually used interchangeably, the former refers to being present and aware of your immediate environment. It also involves calmly acknowledging and accepting your current feelings and body sensations. Mindfulness training has shown to be a straightforward and effective strategy for lowering blood pressure and anxiety attacks and promoting general psychological well-being. Before gaming, you can do this while listening to calming sounds like piano, rain, or quiet flute. 

• Be comfortable 

It is vital to sit properly and wear comfortable clothing when video gaming. The best posture is to sit in a stable, comfortable chair with your feet at a 100-degree angle to the ground. Using the appropriate chair and posture can help comfort and relieve any pressure on your back. Keeping your elbows parallel to your desk and near your body is also advisable. This way, you wouldn't have to stretch your arms to reach the keyboard or mouse. Keeping your shoulders relaxed can also lower the pressure on your lower back. You can purchase a computer chair or specially designed chairs to ensure you don't hurt your body. Also, make sure your eyes are protected during your game session, and wear eye protection if you need to. If you wear contacts, make sure they're not dried out, and if you wear glasses, make sure they're clean. Additionally, you can use accessories like anti-glare screen protection to protect your eyes. 

• Let in some natural light 

Research suggests that people who get some sunshine early in the day or work in natural light have more energy and alertness during the evening than those who don't. Given that most people game at night, it is practical to follow the experts' suggestions and allow natural light into your space during the day to improve your gaming later in the evening. Moderate sunlight boosts your body's serotonin levels or happiness hormone to keep you calm and alert. 

Some of the best racing games of all time and other games like Burnout Paradise, League of Legends, PUBG, Call of Duty, and so on are no place for wandering minds. It is essential to consider tips like those mentioned here to improve your focus.