Playing computer games could help to improve eyesight

After years of being told that video games are bad for your health and especially your eyes, a new study has proved that in fact playing some games may actually help improve your vision, and could even prevent you from needing glasses in the future. The study, conducted by the University of Rochester, demonstrates that playing certain games can improve a person’s contrast sensitivity function, or their ability to distinguish easily between different shades of grey. But can that really mean the game has improved your eyesight?

Shades of grey may not sound all that ground-breaking, but contrast sensitivity is one of the most easily damaged functions of the human eye. People who suffer from low contrast sensitivity find it harder to see at night or to pick out small details like spots on clothing, and often the only way to treat the problem is with increasing strength prescription glasses or eye surgery. It’s now believed that computer games could be used to train the eyes to develop these skills, and that the same method could even be used to treat people who suffer from Amblyopia or ‘lazy eye’, a condition that affects the brain’s ability to correctly register signals from one eye.

But not all video games are thought to be beneficial in this way. The study compared different types of games by testing young adults who did not normally play games before and after a period of playing them regularly. The results of the tests revealed that subjects who played first-person shooter or action games like Call of Duty showed a 43 per cent improvement on average, whereas those who played non-action games like The Sims 2 showed hardly any.

So if gaming could help us avoid eye problems should we all be rushing out to buy an XBOX with as many action games as we can find to ensure that our designer sunglasses will remain our only visual aids far into our future? Well, unfortunately no. For a start the study makes a point that not all action games will work like this, in other words, most of them probably won’t. Not to mention the fact that although these games may help develop some areas of your sight, it’s still not a great idea to be sitting in front of a screen for long periods of time, or to allow gaming to replace other activities that are necessary to staying fit and healthy. In theory it’s certainly a nice idea, but it’s important to remember that it’s just as possible that video games could well be harmful in other ways.