Gaming can be great for your brain, but your current habits might be doing more harm than good — here’s what science actually recommends

The Washington Post recently explored how video games may actually be good for our brains. It is a position I have personally held for a long time, but one that is now backed by a growing body of research released year after year.

What was once a hobby dismissed by professionals is increasingly being viewed as a tool that can help keep our brains active and healthy. That said, the benefits are not as universal or straightforward as they might sound, so it is worth digging into what the research actually says.

Where the science behind video games and cognition comes from

It is something I have touched on before, the idea that video games could help repair our shrinking attention spans. Similar to when I covered that, we now have peer-reviewed studies from 2024 and 2025 pushing back against the older belief that video games are inherently harmful, which has all been rather well put together in an article detailing the research by the Washington Post.

A key part of this research involves comparing video games to traditional brain training tools. Many of those tools focus on narrow, repetitive tasks, while video games often demand multitasking, problem-solving, and the ability to adapt to new situations in real time.

As pointed out in the Washington Post article, StarCraft II, now part of Xbox’s wider portfolio, has been linked to increased brain efficiency, with a study showing stronger connectivity in areas tied to attention, memory, and multitasking.

The benefits also extend to more action-based games, including first and third-person titles.

The work pointed out in this article comes from cognitive psychologists and neuroscience labs based in universities and research institutions, where the goal is to understand how the brain processes complex tasks.

Why some video games may improve attention, learning, and brain aging

More demanding games place players under sustained cognitive load by constantly asking them to track information, make decisions, and adapt in real time. Strategy and action games stand out because they combine time pressure with complex systems, unlike slower or more rigid titles built around fixed rules and repetition.

Research has linked this kind of play to improvements in visual attention, faster learning, and other things such as focus and task switching. There is also evidence suggesting that greater gaming experience is associated with slower cognitive aging, though researchers are careful to frame this as a correlation rather than a guarantee.

At the same time, there is still debate over how well these skills transfer beyond the games themselves and where the limits sit. What does appear consistent is that any benefits are tied to moderate, structured play, not long or excessive gaming sessions, so unfortunately, we can’t just game 24/7 and reap the benefits.

Moderation matters more than playtime

Most of the research in this space points toward moderation rather than marathon gaming sessions. The studies that report cognitive benefits tend to focus on short, structured play, often around 30 minutes to an hour at a time, rather than extended daily use.

There is also a strong emphasis on novelty, with learning new games appearing to matter more than mastering a single title. Once a task becomes familiar, the cognitive challenge drops, which limits its usefulness over time.

Researchers also draw a clear line between healthy engagement and problematic play, where gaming can start to interfere with daily life.

That means longer, extended sessions do not appear to offer the same benefits as shorter bursts of play. If people want to see potential gains, the research suggests mixing things up with new games and balancing gaming with time away from the screen where possible.

We want to hear how you play. Do your gaming habits line up with what the research suggests, or do you approach games in a very different way?

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