Can Video Games Help Reduce Stress?

Video games: You either love ’em or you hate ’em. Some people can’t got a single day without switching on the X-Box while others would rather read or watch a movie. Regardless, recent studies show that video games may help reduce stress. The mindless activity of punching buttons and watching the screen can effectively take the mind away from stressors and focus energy in a positive direction. Although video games are reportedly addictive, they can also help reduce stress and therefore increase levels of health.

One way in which video games are supposed to relieve stress is by giving the mind a vacation. The player is immersed in a fantasy world that is completely separate from his or her reality. While this might seem counter-productive, studies show that thirty minutes of playing video games can reduce stress levels significantly. According to Professor Trent Kilcannon of William & Mary University, the best games for this type of stress relief are repetitive games that are easy to master but which have a goal that can be difficult to achieve.

Video games can also reduce stress by giving the hands and the mind something active in which to partake. It doesn’t take a significant amount of energy to play a video game, but it is a constructive use of the hands and involves hand-eye coordination. Giving the hands and mind something on which to concentrate gives other worries a chance to recede for a while, even if only for fifteen or twenty minutes. The action of the hands combined with the mind’s concentration can make the player more awake and alert and can release certain chemicals in the brain, such as what happens during exercise.

Kilcannon admits that video games inspire a thin line between addiction and casual stress relief. Like with any activity, too much of a good thing can become a bad thing, and if a player is too focused on video games it can lead to symptoms of addiction, such as disinterest in other activities and even depression. It is important for video game players to realize that playing games shouldn’t be an activity that stretches on for hours and that thirty minutes of playing is sufficient to calm the nerves.

Video games can reduce stress relief, but so can simple computer games. According to recent surveys, people who play twenty to thirty minutes of Solitaire or Hearts on the computer every evening before bed report an easier time sleeping and a more relaxed state of mind. Puzzles have been noted in the past to produce similar results. The entire point of playing a game — whether video game or otherwise — is to transport the player into a different mentality from the one in which he exists the rest of the time. Even moving cards back and forth on a computer screen can supply significant stress relief.

If you enjoy video games and if you own a video game system, you might want to start watching for patterns. Do you feel better after playing a game? Do you look forward to it as a method of escape? These are not necessarily bad things, as was once believed, but can actually be healthy. Many of us lead stressful lives and any source of stress relief is welcome.