A brand new study from Samsung, surveying over 65 year olds in the UK, has revealed that over a third (36%) are gaming every day.

Baycroft Care Homes offer care for dementia residents, and Managing Director, Stewart McGinn, say the study is “groundbreaking and could elicit significant change”.

McGinn explained: “Video games can be extremely beneficial in a dementia resident’s cognitive abilities. In fact, some video games can be customised specifically to improve these cognitive abilities, such as memory and reasoning.

“According to research from 2020, where early stage and middle stage dementia patients used serious video games, it was observed that they were able to improve a wide variety of cognitive abilities, including short-term memory, reaction time, problem solving, logical reasoning, and communication.

“However, in Samsung’s report, it states that only 22% of over 65s are playing video games to stimulate their minds. It’s a statistic that arguably highlights the lack of knowledge surrounding how beneficial video games, and games in general, are to people with dementia.

“In most high-quality care homes, there are often extensive activity programmes for this very reason, as stimulating the minds of dementia residents could slow down symptoms of dementia.”