Mahjong, the tiled-based game popular among Chinese people (and to others of different nationalities) might be a possible way to boost mental health, according to a study from the University of Georgia. Playing Mahjong is a type of social participation linked to reduce rates of depression among the Chinese, as EurekAlert details:
"Global economic and epidemiologic trends have led to significant increases in the burden of mental health among older adults, especially in the low- and middle-income countries," said Adam Chen, an associate professor of health policy and management at UGA's College of Public Health and study co-author.
"Our paper provides evidence on the association between social participation and mental health in the context of a developing country. We also examined the rural-urban difference, which has not been examined extensively in this line of literature."
They found that, on the whole, participating in a wide variety of activities more frequently was associated with better mental health. Specifically, urban residents who played mahjong, a popular strategy game, were less likely to feel depressed.
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