BridgeAtSchools, Inc. "Giving Youth a Hand for the Future"

Other Benefits of Playing Bridge for Children and Adults

Research – Other benefits to children and adults

§      Playing bridge boosts immune system.  A 15-year study by a University of California-Berkeley researcher suggests that playing bridge stimulates an area of the brain responsible for influencing the immune system by triggering increases in CD-4 positive T cell counts (www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/11/09/health.bridge.reut).

§      The French Bridge Federation decided to launch a plan in the early 1990’s to introduce and develop a bridge teaching program in the scholastic environment, because the game of bridge brings together logic, communication, social competence, and decision in a unique way.  These skills represent the fundamental qualities expected in a responsible person (paraphrased from school bridge training manual created by French Bridge Federation, translated by BridgeAtSchools, Inc. February 2002).

§      Students see more than entertainment and social value in bridge.  In fact, some of the; benefits students acknowledge after; joining a school bridge program are that it helps them think; takes their mind off other things, gives them confidence, and challenges them,  according to a survey of middle school and high school students participating in  after-school bridge programs in Albuquerque, NM (BridgeAtSchools, February 2002).