A psychiatrist recommends for these dates "strategy games, creative construction, participation in group and mental exercise."

"Material games are preferable, especially those related to strategy, creative construction, participation in group and mental exercise". Dr. Fernando Sarrais, psychiatrist and professor of the School of Education and Psychology of the University of Navarra, emphasizes the importance of this subject of games, more recommended for children in times of gifts.

He also recommends that adolescents seek out shared games with other peers: "It allows them to create deep and lasting bonds of friendship, to get to know themselves and others. It teaches them to respect rules, to win and to lose. This controls affectivity, knowing how to maintain peace and joy in defeats; in addition to encouraging altruism and companionship".

goal In his latest publication, entitled The power of play for development and mental wellbeing, the psychiatrist analyzes play with the aim of "understanding the reason why human beings of all ages, ages and sexes have played and play, what are its benefits and how it improves people's quality of life, and examining the risks of pathological play, in order to improve prevention," he points out. In it, he not only focuses on children and adolescents, but also appeals to all evolutionary stages.

The game, a balancing factor

In the publication, the author warns that play can be seen as a "waste of time" due to the current Western mentality, where "performance, merit and success are excessively sought after; and yet, play does not contribute to achieving these objectives". As Dr. Sarrais explains in the book, this playful activity financial aid at development of people. "Mental health depends on achieving and maintaining a balanced life: between obligations and devotions, work and rest, tension and relaxation, etc. Play is a balancing factor of the serious and unpleasant things in life. On the other hand, mental rest is related to relaxation and enjoyment, and gambling brings those two qualities to a great extent, as long as the goal is not to win but to enjoy," he notes.

To find this balance, the professor stresses the need for the activity to be guided by reason, "which allows us to know the benefits it brings us, both for ourselves and for the loved ones with whom we share the game". This same process, he adds, is what we do with physical exercise. "It allows us to be physically fit and healthy, the same has to be with the game to be mentally fit and healthy, because it does not bring relaxation and enjoyment."

The professor also stresses the importance of the game "being controlled by the head, which dictates "the way, time and place to play, and the will enforces these conditions", and to distinguish this process from that in which the goal of the game is to evade a psychological discomfort, because "then affectivity rules over reason, and there is a risk of falling into addiction".