When you got nothing to do on a lazy day, a virtual escape room with friends and family can change that. Escape rooms have grown popular recently and are a great way to spend the weekend. These rooms are also good at promoting physical health. It is not their main selling point, but after completing an escape room, you can see how much it can improve your overall health. We will go into more detail about escape rooms and what they can do to your health.
What Is an Escape Room?
If you have never gone with a friend to check out an escape room, you are missing out.
Escape rooms are a fun, immersive experience that drops you into a different world. From Murder Mysteries to a dirty prison cell, you fall into a scenario with one objective: escape.
You and your friends work together to escape the room by solving puzzles and mental challenges within a time limit.
Whether or not you manage to solve the escape room, the fun of it comes from hanging out with your friends and sharing this interactive experience.
How Can an Escape Room Improve Your Physical Health?
When you go to a virtual escape room, the last time on your mind is the answer to perfect health.
People enjoy the thrills of being trapped in a movie-like scenario and using nothing but their minds as the answer.
Other people see it as a tourist attraction to spend an evening with family members or visiting friends.
They don’t realize that with all this fun, your health slowly improves in the background without you realizing it’s happening!
Here are some ways that prove escape rooms are good for our health.
Memory Improvement
Escape rooms rely on logic power to win, which simultaneously exercises the brain.
Some of the most common puzzles you can expect from an escape room are memorizing hidden numbers or specific details that will be useful later.
You don’t realize it at first, but doing these memory tasks improves your brain’s cognitive speed and short-term memory.
With enough practice and repetition, you start to learn patterns and train your brain to solve these problems with ease. You become a master with escape room puzzles and exercise your mind.
Increase Dopamine Levels
When you solve an escape room for the first time, you will feel a high level of happiness. This feeling is because of the dopamine released.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that relays chemical messages between your brain and the body. The hormone is also known as a ‘feel-good’ hormone.
Your dopamine levels increase after engaging with your reward system. When we seek things that make us feel rewarded, our brains release a lot of dopamine and lift our moods.
Completing an escape room gives you a sense of accomplishment, and even though you don’t get anything for winning, your brain rewards you with a sense of satisfaction.
Low dopamine levels lead to tired, unhappy bodies that lack motivation, so a trip to your local escape room can improve your mood.
Teamwork
Being stuck in a room with friends should not feel like a punishment. You are all working towards the same goal of escaping.
Escape rooms can be seen as a
team-building exercise. There’s nothing better to unite a group than breaking out of a stimulated trap room.
Coworkers of the same company can spend an hour in an escape room to get to know a newcomer and learn their strengths.
By being comfortable around the people you work with, your body learns to relax and understand it’s in a safe space.
People generally feel better when surrounded by social interaction, so being locked in an escape room with well-minded bodies affect our mood and overall feelings.
Communication
One of the things you can expect from an escape room is the talks and debates over solving the puzzles.
We are social creatures who need constant connection with other people. The easiest way to get that is by talking about problems and solutions.
Escape rooms are good places to practice speech and develop strong communication skills. Reading social cues and controlling your manner of speech are important in a group setting.
If you are someone who gets tongue-tied or sweaty when talking, an escape room might be the perfect place for you. It’s a fun environment that puts you and your friends on the same playing field.
Working on clear communication makes you more confident around people, which will make your body more relaxed and composed.
Improved Motor Skills
Some escape rooms require you to use your brain, while other advanced rooms test your physical capabilities.
Jumping over gaps, ducking under lasers, or even balancing yourself are some physical activities you can expect from an escape room.
It might seem tedious to some, but most people would appreciate the challenge and time to train their bodies.
Not only would you be exercising your brain, but the body can build a good amount of stamina from pacing around the room and looking for clues.
You can also strengthen your spatial awareness and see objects from different perspectives. You become more of a critical thinker and notice solutions from all possible angles.
Stress Relief
The thought of solving a puzzle under a time limit sounds stressful, but it’s quite the opposite.
Depending on your goal, an escape room should be fun and a space to
spend time with people. Having a laugh and working together reduces the stress on your body.
Studies show that your stress levels decrease when you take your mind away from the stressor. If there are problems at work or home, an escape room can act as your escape from reality.
The optional themes that differ from every escape room help in this regard. The different settings and scenarios trick your brain into thinking it’s someplace else, and that can lift your mood from the pressure of everyday living.
Do you want to be a detective? Do you want to escape the chambers of an ancient tomb?
There’s a lot of fun in
role-playing, and pretending to be someone else can separate you from the realness and lower stress.
Outside Activity
There are virtual escape rooms and simulations that exist online, but it’s more fun to go out and treat it as an outside activity.
Nowadays, a lot of people are working remotely from their homes. While it is a great way to make more time for oneself by eliminating commuting time, it’s not ideal to stay cooped up in your house for long.
Doing an escape room can encourage friends to come out, stretch their legs, and spend an hour in good company.
Your body will feel a lot more energized and positive, especially when you work long hours from home.
Increased Productivity
An escape room is a perfect place to take your break from work. It is also a spot that can make you more productive.
Inside an escape room, there are countless puzzles, clues, riddles, and other challenges to keep your mind occupied. It’s not easy being bored inside a room locked with a mystery.
Focusing on the finer details and analyzing every clue that comes your way helps your mind concentrate better.
That kind of mental training is hard to come by, and when you master it, you can apply that same level of concentration to your other projects and tasks.
Whether it be working at your desk job or needing some motivation to hit up the gym, a quick trip to an escape room fills your body with motivation and drive.
Fun Memories
Above all else, you’ll be leaving with a wonderful memory spent with good friends and coworkers.
Creating positive memories improves your overall mood and health. Your body can sense euphoria and pleasant feelings if your mind is filled with happy thoughts.
Escape rooms don’t cure depression, but they can help by elevating your mood and giving you something fun to do.
Invite friends who are into mysteries and puzzles. If you surround yourself with those groups of people, they are likely to rub their enthusiasm on you.
Take on as many clues as you can and try and solve a few. Even if you are not the best when it comes to it, participating in the process will make you feel energized and happy.
The more you turn your escape room trip into a wonderful experience, the more of an impact it has on your mind, and can make wonderful memories with the people you like best.
Conclusion
Escape rooms don’t have to be just another group activity, but a spot that gets your blood pumping.
Doing an escape room has a lot of benefits that can have an impact on your physical health. Your brain gets exercise, the social interaction energizes your body, and you leave the game with a positive attitude.
Escape rooms are more prominent than ever, so take a chance, invite some friends, and see for yourself the wonders of solving a fun case.