Gaming does require more out of the body and brain than television...

I've had the flu for the last 3 days, leaving me unable to think or do much. Since work would have been impossible, and I didn't want to infect my co-workers, I stayed home and did what I normally never do: watch television.

Since I was zombified by whatever was on, I was able to ignore the illness taking a toll on my body. It was great for a couple of hours, but television wore thin after a while. So I decided to try gaming.

I couldn't do it. Halo 2 was possible, but I was very slow and my reaction time sucked. I gave up there and tried to play some Xenosaga II since I figured it was less intense. That hurt my brain (literally); there's definitely some unanticipated thinking with RPGS. To a healthy body, it's no big deal, but for a stuffy aching head it's a different ordeal completely. I even tried some simple XBLA games, but just couldn't do it. I had to go back to watching television.

Naturally, I start pondering how this relates to a healthy body. While television took absolutely no effort for me to watch, gaming required a lot more out of me. Far from scientific, but a point is to made: gaming is probably better for your mind than television is. I even remember reading somewhere that it burns more calories (nothing like a workout though, unless you are playing DDR).

I'm a little disappointed, as I could have accomplished a lot in those games during my time off. But on the other hand, I'm glad I decided to avoid television and movies as much as possible about a decade ago.