A study from the University of Western Ontario found that routinely playing video games boosts a person’s cognitive abilities.

The study compared the mental effects of playing video games to the mental effects of exercise. It found that playing video games “improved cognition but had no effect on mental health “was associated with better cognitive performance but was unrelated to mental health,” while exercising improved mental health but had no effect on cognitive abilities.

In order to scientifically qualify a “gamer,” researchers sought out individuals who reportedly spent “3+ hours per week in one or more genres” of video games. They then gave these gamers the 12-task Creyos battery, which is an online assessment that participants can take through the internet.

The study also compared “frequent gamers” to “infrequent gamers” and found that while infrequent gamers displayed better cognitive abilities than non-gamers, their cognition was still generally inferior to those who regularly play video games.

Although gamers typically displayed better cognitive abilities, those who exercise frequently tended to display more positive mental health than their non-exercising counterparts.

Conor Wild, Sydni Paleczny, Alex Xue, Roger Highfield and Adrian Owen conducted the research and wrote the study.