Boosting your quick-thinking abilities, pushing you to remain alert and observant, helping you improve your team skills…sometimes it seems that escape rooms are the Holy Grail of leisure activities.
In this blog post, we will take up the question of how escape rooms are good for both your mind and your body.
We’ll start off straight away with the mental and physical benefits of escape rooms and then have a quick look at how these immersive experiences can help you adopt the new “wellness lifestyle”.
And we’ll round things up by bringing up the science behind our claims (including the link between escape rooms and neurotransmitters).
Ready for the ride?
Let’s begin!
What happens in an escape room (just so we’re on the same page)
The experience begins with players choosing an adventure/mission and entering the game space, which is specially designed with props, puzzles and clues.
Players have to work together to solve puzzles, decipher codes, find hidden objects, figure out how to open special locks and so on – to find the clues that’ll tell them how to proceed.
And there’s a time limit within which you have to get to the final clue and accomplish your mission. For example, at our Perth escape room, 4 adventures have a time limit of 60 while one gives you 75 minutes to “escape the room”.
As you can guess, multiple skills – from observation and situational awareness to quick thinking and being able to communicate clearly with others – come into play.
The mental benefits of escape rooms
You’ve already begun to guess some of them, haven’t you? With activities like solving puzzles, finding hidden objects, and communicating with teammates – you’ll expect a host of advantages, ranging from creativity to easily adjusting to working with a team.
Boosting problem-solving skills
Escape rooms are a treasure trove of riddles, puzzles, and problems that you need to get through before time runs out.
This will help you build a problem-solving approach, which is pretty useful in building the go-getter mindset that’s crucial in today’s world.
Improving creativity
These immersive games demand players to think creatively, often requiring the use of lateral thinking or abstract reasoning to crack codes and decipher clues.
By exercising your problem-solving muscles, you’ll find yourself thinking outside the box and discovering new ways to tackle challenges.
Enhancing critical thinking
As you navigate the twists and turns of escape rooms, you’ll need to analyse information, draw logical conclusions, and make sound decisions.
These skills are essential for success, both inside and outside the room.
Lost Reality Adds: To be clear, “critical thinking” refers to the analysis of facts to arrive at decisions.
Helping you adjust to working with a team
There’s no “I” in “team,” – and in today’s world, increasingly, there is no work without teams.
Escape rooms are no exception.
Collaborating with fellow players, sharing ideas, and communicating effectively in an escape room will help you adjust to your role in any team, even outside the escape room.
Improving recall and retention
A mystery room’s (another name for an escape room) puzzles and challenges can significantly enhance your memory recall and retention by engaging with codes, symbols, or languages.
This can improve your memory capacity and longevity, which we’re sure you’ll agree, is a huge benefit in anyone’s everyday life.
The physical benefits of escape rooms
Although these might be a little harder to guess, here’s the deal: Adventure rooms (yet another name for escape rooms) push players to adopt a more active lifestyle.
Getting you moving
While you don’t exactly do cardio in an adventure room, you have to move around, crawl, reach, and maybe even climb as you search for hidden objects and solve physical puzzles.
This creates a feel-good sentiment about keeping active and engaged and motivates you to take on/continue with traditional workout routines.
Improving perceptual abilities and motor skills
Some of the puzzles and challenges in escape rooms can require quick reflexes, keen observation, and fine motor skills, which can help improve your overall coordination and dexterity.
The various physical challenges in the escape room, such as searching for hidden objects, unlocking locks, or manipulating puzzles, can help you develop better perceptual abilities and hand-eye coordination.
The repeated use of these skills during the game can carry over into everyday life, allowing you to perform daily tasks more efficiently and easily.
The new “wellness lifestyle”
Wellness is a holistic approach to health, encompassing physical, mental, and emotional aspects of one’s life.
As we shall see, doing escape rooms regularly can help you adopt this new health mantra.
How escape rooms fit into the wellness lifestyle
Escape rooms are an ideal activity for those seeking a wellness lifestyle.
Apart from the mental and physical benefits we discussed above, adventure rooms also help you increase your social interaction by requiring you to work with your team.
In fact, one study found mystery rooms to significantly improve “prosocial behaviour”.
Through this unique combination of mental stimulation, physical exercise, and social interaction, escape rooms offer a well-rounded and enjoyable way to boost your overall well-being.
The science behind why escape rooms are good for both your mind and your body
For all you geeks and nerds out there, here’s a brief look at the science behind all the benefits that escape rooms offer:
Engaging multiple areas of the brain
Escape rooms engage various regions of the brain, including those responsible for memory, critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving.
That’s why mystery room adventures can lead to improved cognitive function and mental acuity.
Research has shown that these immersive experiences can have a positive impact on problem-solving abilities and even physical health.
Releasing neurotransmitters
During an escape room adventure, neurotransmitters such as dopamine, adrenaline, and serotonin are released.
These chemicals play a significant role in regulating mood, focus, and motivation, contributing to an overall sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Frequently asked questions about the health benefits of escape rooms
From whether escape rooms can give your IQ a boost to whether they’re good for people with anxiety, find all the commonly made queries about how escape rooms are good for your mind and body answered!
Are escape rooms good for your body?
Absolutely!
Although escape rooms cannot be considered a complete exercise routine, they get players moving – crawling, reaching, moving around, and even climbing to solve puzzles.
This improves your motor skills and coordination, making escape rooms a thrilling and enjoyable way to maintain an active and engaged body.
Do you burn calories in an escape room?
Escape rooms nudge players to adopt an active lifestyle, which helps burn calories over time.
However, it is doubtful whether an escape room directly will shed those pesky calories in any meaningful way.
Fitness expert Darren Lewis speculates that “184 to 200 calories can be burned during a 60-minute escape room challenge”.
However, we do not recommend substituting escape rooms for physical workouts or depending on them directly to lose weight directly.
Are escape rooms good for your brain?
Definitely! Escape rooms are excellent for boosting problem-solving skills, enhancing creativity, and improving critical thinking.
By engaging multiple areas of the brain, these immersive experiences can lead to improved cognitive function and mental acuity.
Do escape rooms increase IQ?
Some studies indicate that doing puzzles regularly can boost your IQ.
So it’s not difficult to speculate that as puzzle-based experiences, escape rooms can indeed help you improve your Intelligence Quotient.
What we can say for sure is that by sharpening your problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity skills, escape adventures contribute to overall intellectual growth and brain health.
Are escape rooms stressful?
Escape rooms can be thrilling and challenging, but they’re designed to be fun and engaging.
While the time pressure and complex puzzles might cause some stress, the satisfaction of solving a puzzle and escaping the room can be a major stress reliever.
Lost Reality Adds: If you ever get stuck or feel a little lost, don’t forget that you can always ask one of our friendly game masters for a hint!
Are escape rooms good for people with anxiety?
Although escape rooms may seem intense, they can actually be beneficial for people with anxiety.
The immersive nature of the game can help players forget their worries, while the sense of accomplishment from solving puzzles can boost mood and self-esteem.
Just remember to choose an escape room with a theme and difficulty level that you’re comfortable with.
How do you stay calm in an escape room?
Staying calm in an escape room can be tricky, but here are some tips to help you keep your cool:
- Take deep breaths and stay focused on the task at hand.
- Share concerns with your teammates to avoid confusion and frustration.
- Break down complex puzzles into smaller, more manageable tasks.
- Remember that it’s just a game, and the main goal is to have fun!
Now, it’s time for your to conquer those escape rooms with confidence and a newfound appreciation for their mental and physical benefits!
Escape room benefits for the mind and the body – quick recap
In summary, escape rooms provide a unique and engaging experience that can:
- Boost problem-solving skills.
- Enhance creativity.
- Improve critical thinking.
- Foster social interaction and teamwork.
- Increase alertness and focus.
- Provide physical activity and improve motor skills.
- Reduce stress and anxiety.
All of which are critical to maintain overall health and well-being.
Ready to experience some of these benefits for yourself?
Visit Lost Reality Escape Room today and experience the thrill of solving puzzles, deciphering clues, and escaping the room before time runs out.
As we’ve just seen, you’ll not only have an incredible time, but you’ll also be doing wonders for your mental and physical health.
So, choose your escape game, gather your team, book your adventure, and prepare for your mission! For those travelling from Malaga, drop by our escape room facility for a gala fun time!
If you have any questions, do reach out!
