Meditation

How Playing Competitive Card Games Can Increase Focus and Clarity

Meditation is well known to be a great tool for harnessing your focus and improving mindfulness. To illustrate, our article entitled ‘Why Meditate?’ points out that the simple act of meditation trains your mind to focus on the present moment. Meditation frees you from any worries and ideas that are troubling your mind by simply giving you room to breathe, pause, and reflect.

Surprisingly enough, card games can work similarly. Playing card games can free you from stress by stimulating your brain to focus on the activity alone. Dr. Harvinder Chaudhry recognizes games as a cognitive exercise. By consciously thinking about your next moves, you’re training your brain to focus on more productive and fulfilling tasks. The act of playing competitive card games can often lead to the same results as meditation, as it improves your mental cognition in the following ways:

Card games stimulate various areas of your brain

Card games can be a great way to ease your mind and have some fun. This fun factor is essential, since nurse practitioner Joyce Mikal-Flynn says that this aspect of card games encourages better brain health and wellness. In fact, researchers found that the card game bridge stimulates the area of the brain that is used in boosting our immune systems. Bridge players actively use their memory and sequencing skills while enjoying the act of playing, stimulating their brains and dopamine production at the same time.

Your memory retention and recall will be improved

Card games like Concentration can be great practice for developing mindfulness because they improve your ability to retain and recall information. Also known as Memory or Match Up, Concentration invites players to memorize card positions while cards are laid out face down in front of them. The end goal is to pair cards with the least amount of flips. Distracted individuals will fail to remember the pairs, while immersed players can use their focus to win the game.

You can learn discipline from learning card games

Just like meditation, it can be difficult to get accustomed to playing card games at the beginning. One of the most famous card games, poker, has game mechanics that are simple enough to learn in one day. However, Poker.org emphasizes that taking the time to learn poker is the key to mastering the game. You need to immerse yourself in the experience so that you can truly grasp the different poker variations, hand rankings, and terms. While it’s not easy to train your brain for this, your willingness to learn will help you develop discipline and focus.

Card games refine your decision-making skills

Meditation and solitaire are both solo activities that can improve your mental clarity when it comes to decision-making. B2BNewsNetwork.com states that solitaire is a strategy game, and each player is challenged to be mindful and weigh the pros and cons as they plan out their next moves. While everyone plays to win the game, a player’s ability to understand the process and handle setbacks will ultimately determine their success.

Card Games for Better Clarity

Card games can teach you important skills you will need in your life. By learning about these competitive games, you can sharpen your focus and clarity for your day-to-day challenges, and apply the same mindfulness that you learn from meditation.