Name us an activity you can do with other people that is good for your health but also lots of fun.
No Sandra, not what you get up to with your fella at the weekend, that’s not where this article is going.
It’s harder to come up something than you think isn’t it?
Chocolate and cake are great, but less great for your health. Going out on the town with the gang is brilliant fun, but again, all those sugary drinks and a kebab at the end of the night make it pretty unhealthy.
You know what does tick both of those boxes though? Bingo!
You didn’t see that coming did you..?
Studies have shown that playing bingo regularly is good for your brain, because it is stimulating and requires concentration alongside quick recognition and decision making.
It’s good for your memory too, and can even have mental health benefits.
We probably don’t have to point out that it is also fun, since you lot are definitely aware of that.
The Mental Benefits of Playing Bingo
It’s not just us making this stuff up, there has been a fair amount of research in this area and it all shows that mental activities like bingo can help us to keep mentally fit in a number of ways.
We’re going to get a bit jargon heavy here, but that just proves how useful bingo can be in keeping our brains firing on all cylinders.
Firstly, bingo requires players to stay focused for the duration of the game. Well, a study published in the journal ‘Neurology’ in 2011 found that older adults who regularly engaged in mentally stimulating activities, such as bingo, had a slower rate of cognitive decline (confusion, forgetting things, poor concentration) compared to those who did not. This suggests that bingo is an activity that can help preserve cognitive function over time – which is nice for us bingo players, isn’t it?
Secondly, playing bingo involves recognizing and matching patterns on bingo cards, which taps into visual perception and memory skills. Another study, published in ‘Neuropsychologia’ in 2014, highlighted the importance of pattern recognition in cognitive training, showing that training participants to identify and remember complex patterns led to improvements in their memory and cognitive abilities.
This is backed up by a further study published in the journal ‘Psychology and Aging’ in 2009, which also found that activities requiring focused attention, like bingo, can help improve working memory capacity. When individuals play bingo, they need to stay alert to track the called numbers and mark their cards accurately, which can enhance their ability to sustain attention.
Playing bingo can have several cognitive benefits, including improvements in brain function and memory. While there may not be an extensive body of research specifically on bingo, the principles behind why it can be beneficial for the brain are supported by studies on related activities and cognitive training exercises.
While none of these studies were specifically about bingo, we can confidently say that the principles behind why bingo can be beneficial for the brain are well supported by studies on related activities and cognitive training exercises.
All of this can be particularly beneficial for older adults in maintaining or even enhancing their memory skills, and we all know a large number of bingo fans are at or around pension age.
Bingo provides social engagement for a generation that tend to get less of it due to their lifestyle slowing down, and this is crucial for overall brain health. Interacting with others while playing bingo can encourage communication and socialization, and reduce feelings of loneliness isolation which are terrible for our mental health. A study published in the “Journal of Aging Research” in 2015 suggested that social engagement through activities like bingo may contribute to better cognitive functioning in older adults.
So there you go, bingo is good for you, and it’s backed up by science.
Does Bingo Have Any Physical Benefits?
We would be stretching things pretty far if we tried to claim bingo counts as physical exercise, but on the other hand, for someone who is fairly immobile, it could have some physical benefits.
This is related to the above too, because everyone knows that exercise releases endorphins, and endorphins make us feel good, so physical exercise is good for our brains too and our mental health.
So how does bingo qualify as physical exercise?
Well firstly, you’ve got to get to the bingo hall in the first place, haven’t you? So for anyone who spends all day sat on the sofa, that journey to the bingo hall could be the most exercise they get all day.
And let’s not forget the journey home too!
Even though bingo is played sat down, your body is alert and engaged rather than being slumped back in a recliner, and there is plenty of moving about between games to go to the loo or the bar, or to see your friend Norma who hasn’t been in for a while.
Plus, if you are marking your own cards there are a lot of short sharp movements there too, although again, this will not have much benefit for younger players, but more elderly bingo fans could feel it.
On a more serious note, stress does terrible damage to our bodies, and enjoying bingo with friends is a great stress buster, and can even lower blood pressure.
If you wanted to exert a little more energy during your night at the bingo and burn a few extra calories, you could always choreograph a vigorous victory dance for any wins too.