Video games have long been a popular hobby, and it’s often one of the more enjoyable ways to spend some time having fun. But, that doesn’t mean video games are just a way to enjoy yourself. They could have much more of an impact on you and your lifestyle than you’d think.

They could affect your life quite a bit, but this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, video games help you work on various parts of yourself without even realizing it.

There’s a reason why so many people go on about the benefits of video games, after all. But, not all of these ways video games can affect you are that obvious. Some could be a lot more surprising, but you could still end up seeing them more and more in time.

Eight of these could stand out, not only for how surprising they might be, but for how much of an impact you can see.

1. Greater Multi-Tasking Ability

Multi-tasking is inherently tricky to do, as you’ll need to make sure everything’s done well so you avoid needing to redo everything. You’ll want to avoid wasting time in the first place, after all. Video games can help with this more than you’d think, especially considering how much you’ll need to juggle in-game.

Add in anything else you’re paying attention to outside the game, and you’ll juggle even more. While you mightn’t be able to do that perfectly at the start, you could end up finding yourself getting better and better at it.

2. Helping You Relax & Destress

Games can be one of the best hobbies to pick when you want to relax and destress, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t help relatively quickly. More than a few games are well-known to help with this, ranging from a simple crossword game to the Animal Crossing franchise.

It’s just a matter of finding the right games for you, and you’ll feel relaxed before you know it. This gets you away from whatever’s causing you to feel stressed for a few hours, while letting you focus on something enjoyable and dealing with your stress in a healthy way.

3. Improving Your Mental Health

Speaking of relaxing and destressing, these can feed directly into your mental health. But, this isn’t the only way video games help with your mental health. When you actually like playing video games, they’ll help to improve your mood when you’re playing and give you something enjoyable to do regularly.

This can help stave off many of the symptoms of several mental health conditions, like depression. While it wouldn’t minimize them completely, video games can be a great part of a mental health management strategy.

4. Making You More Social

Video games can be a much more social activity than many people realize. Many video games allow for two or more gamers to play together on the same console, so there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to spend time with your friends and family. You could end up spending more time with them than you’d think.

Then there are online multiplayers and similar games. These are geared specifically towards social gaming, and you could end up making more than a few friends this way than you would’ve thought. You’ll end up being more social than you would’ve thought.

5. Better Eyesight

Most people believe that video games hurt your eyesight, but this might only be the case in specific situations. If you’re playing them constantly or are sitting too close to your screen, you could end up having a few minor issues that can be fixed with glasses or a similar approach.

Outside of that, however, video games can help improve your vision. At least, it makes you pay more attention to details, which could make it seem like your eyesight’s getting better. This is especially true for puzzle solving games and similar options.

6. Enhancing Problem Solving Skills

Video games make you overcome challenges and problems for you to beat them, which means your problem solving skills need to be relatively good. While this could be an area you struggle with at the start, it doesn’t have to mean it’ll stay that way. You’ll get better and better at it as time goes on.

As you play your favorite games, you’ll intrinsically improve your problem solving skills so you can keep progressing. This then makes it easier to solve any real-life problems whenever they turn up, making this one of the better ways they can affect your life.

7. Improving Hand-Eye Coordination

Hand-eye coordination is essential for more than a few reasons. You’ll need it a bit in your daily life, and it might be a vital part of your job. But, it’s not exactly something that comes naturally. It’s something you’ll need to work on, and video games can be a great way to do this relatively easily.

You’ll need to pay attention to whatever’s happening in-game while responding with button prompts relatively quickly. The better you are in-game with this, the better you’ll progress in the game. And, it’ll end up making your hand-eye coordination much better overall.

8. Making Faster, Better Decisions

Speaking of hand-eye coordination, this usually involves making split-second decisions based on what’s happening in-game. By needing to make these regularly, you’ll improve your decision-making abilities quite a bit. You’ll get better and better at making fast decisions before you know it.

This doesn’t mean you’ll be making bad decisions, either. Video games help you make better decisions, too. You can see the consequences of your decisions in-game, so you can see if they were the right decisions, helping you think through everything better in time.

Video games affect your life in various ways, and this doesn’t have to be a band thing. In fact, they could end up having a much more positive impact than you’d think. It’s just a matter of taking a healthy approach and making sure you’re enjoying yourself when you’re playing.