National Game and Puzzle Week is the same week as Thanksgiving! To celebrate, we’re sharing a few board game recommendations with all of the residents living at our Arrive Eden Prairie apartment community in Minnesota. Did you know that playing board games can actually be beneficial to your health? Keep reading to learn more about the positive health effects, as well as some of our favorite board games.
Health Benefits
1 — Board Games Can Help Reduce Stress
Pulling out a board game after a long day (or week) of work can be just what you need to reduce stress in your life. Playing a board game with others invites a “kickback and relax” atmosphere, but in a different way than watching television or movies. While laughing has been proven to be good medicine for the heart, engaging oneself in an hour of board games will not only invite the opportunity for laughter, but it will also encourage players to exercise their problem-solving skills. Not only is this healthy, but it has been proven to affect problem-solving in other daily activities. So in addition to relaxing and reducing stress, your body is still engaged in a healthy activity.
2 — Board Games Can Help You Feel Good
Laughter releases endorphins (you know that feeling when you're happy? Yeah, that!). Endorphins bring a positive feeling into the body, and playing board games is a known way to do this. Endorphins reduce pain, improve sleep, and can even help with blood pressure!
To learn more, read about more health benefits, like improving your memory and response time.
Board Game Recommendations
“Jamaica is a pirate-themed strategic racing game where players compete to see who can collect the most booty while sailing around the island of Jamaica.”
“This is a fairly simple game to learn, with simple yet rewarding game mechanics. During the game, players collect different gems. They then use those said gems to purchase cards of different value (points). The player to collect 15 points first wins the game.”
Escape — The Curse of the Temple
“Think you have what it takes to escape a cursed temple? You and other adventurers are trapped, and you have only ten minutes to banish the curse and escape before the temple collapses! What are you still waiting for? RUN!!!”
“In T.I.M.E. Stories, you and up to three friends travel between the future and past, experiencing alternate realities, solving mysteries, and fixing dangerous temporal faults. Created by the team at Space Cowboys, this cooperative board game challenges you to inhabit the bodies of other beings, discover the secrets of your location, communicate with the rest of your team, and win a race against the clock in order to save the known world.”
What are your favorite board games? Add them to our list by sharing them in the comments. Thanks for reading!
