The 4 Mental Benefits Of Playing Mahjong
Peace and light my beloved Cupsters ✨️🪔 I hope this post finds you well. Are you familiar with a common internet game called Mahjong? Continue reading as we explore the mental benefits of the game 🎎
Photo creds: Thanks to 宇珺 傅 @ness_fyj for making this photo available freely on Unsplash 🎁
Happy belated International Mahjong Day! Yes, the popular picture-matching strategy game Mahjong has such beneficial affects on the mind that it has received an International Day! August 1st to be exact. But what is this game all about? In addition to amusing the players, bringing them closer together, and maintaining peace, the game is good for a person's general mental health.
Photo creds: Thanks to Ellicia @ellicia_ for making this photo available freely on Unsplash 🎁
The history of Mahjong is quite vague, and many people have their own theories about how the game came to be. Some claim Confucius founded Mahjong, while others place the birth of the game in the Qing Dynasty. Mahjong is a tile game that has a long history of evolving through various iterations before finally becoming a sport of intense strategy and ability. It can be played with physical tiles and a group of friends, or most commonly, in a peaceful environment played in solitude online. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the game Mahjong, here's a look at this very informative Wiki How article on 3 Ways To Play Mahjong Solitare in real life and online.
The 4 Mental Benefits of Playing Mahjong 🧐
News18 India Lifestyle Desk gives us a look into the 4 main mental benefits of playing this long time strategy game:
✨️ 1. Helps cure dementia. According to research, playing Mahjong keeps one's mind sharp, and it is advised for seniors to play the game to maintain the health of their memory-preserving neurons. Additionally, the game's usage of cognitive abilities aids in the treatment or slowing of dementia's symptoms.
✨️ 2. Reduces symptoms of depression. Mahjong can be played while relaxing in solitude from an online platform. With physical tiles, the game requires three or more players. In Chinese culture, inviting someone to a game of mahjong is regarded as extending a friendly hand. Social interaction has a favorable effect on mental health, according to studies. Mahjong may therefore improve mental health and lessen symptoms of depression in people of various ages.
✨️ 3. Helps children develop cognitive skills. When people are young, their capacity for knowledge absorption is at its peak making children malleable beings. Young children can benefit greatly from playing mahjong since it demands focus, planning, intelligence, and strategy-making.
✨️ 4. Improves concentration and memory. The game heavily relies on pattern recognition. To maintain the pattern recognition process efficient and intact, the game also calls for focus. Therefore, playing a single game can enhance both memory and focus.
Optional Reflection Questions:
1. Are you familiar with the game Mahjong?
2. If familiar, are you experienced with the game online or offline with friends and family?
3. Feel free to share other games with the Cups community that have healthy mental benefits!
Take care! ✨️
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@SirenOfSerenity
Oh wow siren what an insightful thread! I knew majong was an old game but didn't have any idea if it's origins thankyou so much for putting all this together! 💚🐦
I've played it mostly on my phone/pc I think windows had a built in majong game I used to spend hours on 👌
Unfortunately I've never played it with others though Id love to try! - do you know how it works with multiple people? 🤔 💚🐦
I play a lot of sudoku too! Would definitely recommend to anybody who's not tried it :) it's all about number placement but requires no maths just problem solving :D (which is good because I'm aweful at math🤣🤦)
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Hi @WorriedMagpie :D I'm so glad you enjoyed this post!
I never knew about the physical tile game until researching xD I was playing on my phone and wondered "Hmm, what's the benefits of Mahjong? It's in almost every pc!"
I have limited patience with maths although I'm good at it 😅 But Soduku sounds really interesting when you explain it that way. I always overlooked it because of all the numbers I'd see in the game's thumbnail 😂
@SirenOfSerenity
:0 it's always fun to follow our curiosity with stuff like often uncovers a bunch of new stuff we've never heard of! 🙌💚
Honestly I think my knowledge of the tile game comes from the cartoon avatar last bender - although now I'm thinking that might have been pai-sho? - and now I'm looking that's a totally made up game 🤦🤣 apparently I didn't know about majong being a physical thing either 🤣🤣🤦
But fun fact they now make a pai sho tile game based off the cartoon by the looks of it ! 🙃🤣🙌
I would absolutely try out sudoku! Especially if love majong it's kinda got the same vibe just a bit less pretty :) I have an app but always grab a newspaper when I see them on the bus to do the free ones :D 💚🐦
@WorriedMagpie
You're awesome with the relaxing game suggestions :D Its definitely a pleausre to have you here! I'm actually downloading Sudoku now! I vaguely remember ALB from my childhood 😅 I remember being confused with the show but also very fascinated! Now that I'm older I see it was a gem 💎
I use to play this game a lot more in the past. Mostly do solitaire games now. I sometimes look for the 'Dimensional' version of the game. The cube... I think AARP still has it on their site. I'll have to check.
@EmbStitcher33
Solitaire is another one of my personal favorites, these days I try to find them in different themes and graphics
@SirenOfSerenity
I have the Microsoft collection of Solitaire. It has 5 different games. I've been playing this for years now. I've got a ranking that's kinda up there now... and, they have a daily set of games to play. So far this year I've finished all games. Last year I almost won the whole year.... I missed it by one game. I'm still trying to figure that darn thing out...lol.
@EmbStitcher33
Your mastery has made me even more interested in researching its benefits!
Yessss!!!!! Played as a young girl online when aol was the thing 😅😅💫💫 It was addicting and I would play for and hours during the summer. It showed me patience. I would like to own my set of Mahjong tiles 💛 Playing as an adult can help ease my mind therapeutically. ☺️☺️☺️
@Lenaye8
I always wondered if I was the only one :D I might look more into the health benefits of long-time games we play unconsciously
@SirenOfSerenity
What a brilliant post! Thank you for sharing this with us. I didn't realise the different ways you could play it. I'd love to have a physical set, they are so beautiful! I might have to see if I can find some club or something :)
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@gentleFox20
I'm glad you've enjoyed this! I'm going to definitely research the Health benefits of both online and physical games
To be honest, I perfectly understand this state, when there is something like apathy or unwillingness to do something, so I wanted to find some kind of activity that would distract me. One such option was the online casino and sports betting site https://parimatch.in/en/casino/slots/game/softgamings-in-thunderkick-esqueleto-explosivo-2. I think that if you don't have problems with gambling addiction, then it might be a pretty good option.
Hi @reliableOak3675, thank you for your suggestion! For the link you included, it was broken on my end but it may just be an issue with my browser
