When you’re looking to play bingo in Vancouver, Planet Bingo is proud to be the only place for continuous drop-in bingo 364 days a year. The game of bingo offers a fun and exciting time with friends and has since it was first played in Italy around 1530. Today, researchers have discovered that bingo can also help keep your mind sharp well into old age and benefit your long-term mental health.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University, Boston University, and Bridgewater State University in a published article in the journal Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition (2011), found that “high-contrast, large bingo cards boost thinking and playing skills for people with cognitive difficulties and visual perception problems produced by Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.”

According to researchers, as people age, they begin to lose sensitivity to perceived contrasts, which is exacerbated in people with dementia. Bingo is often used in nursing homes and senior centers as a social activity, and being socially engaged helps keep the mind healthy. They have found that boosting contrast or Externally Supported Performance Interventions (ESPI) in the living environment enables people with dementia to move safely around their homes and improve their eating.

What Does this Mean for You as a Bingo Player?

In an earlier study, Julie Winstone from the University of Southampton’s Centre for Visual Cognition at the Department of Psychology tested bingo players’ mental agility, which suggested regularly taking part in activities which require high levels of mental activity helps to maintain cognitive functioning in later life. According to the July 2002 BBC News article, “Playing bingo can keep the mind in trim – and the older you are the more agile you may be, researchers have found. Tests showed bingo players were faster and more accurate than non-bingo players in a range of tests measuring mental speed, memory, and the ability to pick up information from the environment around them.”

Collectively the two studies suggest that bingo in Vancouver is a good tool to combat this loss of visual perception commonly associated with old age, especially in people with dementia, as it promotes interaction and mental engagement. Bingo is also a fun way to get out and stay active. Today bingo is also played by younger and middle-aged individuals interested in a fun game and hobby that can exercise their brain power.

Come Play Your Next Game at Vancouver’s Planet Bingo

Planet Bingo is operated, on behalf of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, by the Community Gaming Management Association (CGMA). As a drop-in style bingo where you can drop in and exercise your brain while play bingo continuously throughout the day, Planet Bingo’s modern two-floor facility offers fast-paced traditional paper-bingo and electronic-bingo at any time you desire in the Lower Mainland.

While bingo can be a fun and exhilarating brain exercise, like any form of gambling, please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help can be found on the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) website.

For more information or to play your next game of bingo, visit us at Planet Bingo today!