Video Game Reduces Stress

Did you know that an awesome healing power had always been right at your comfort-zone? And that’s equally potent as any other antidote? Talking about video games! The joystick or the mouse, apart from offering a powerhouse of pleasure & entertainment, has a soothing effect on even the worst kind of mental fatigue- STRESS.

Your to-do-list is crowded with deadlines. The cubicle is loaded with files. Or your virtual office hardly lets you look around. Else the towering syllabi of the upcoming exam are baffling you. Pushed for the extreme, you are at your wit’s end. Or hey, may be your partner just ditched you or the other way round? Whatever it is, the result is at the end of the day, YOU ARE STRESSED OUT.

Thinking of attending a stress management workshop? But before you spend on that, why don’t you try some video game-play for some hundred bucks or even for free?

The good news is, video games reduce the stress-related hormone Cortisol by 17%. So next time you are done with your office for the day, go for at least a 30 minutes’ refreshing session of VR games. This will also increase your productivity level at work.
Of course not telling you to play at breaks in office-hours

Dear students & their worried parents- video games NEVER hinder study if played in a proper way. Rather relieve the students from the huge pressure & thus help learning to be an enjoyable experience. ‘Call of Duty’, for example, is a helping game in releasing stress for students.


Long-term young adult gamers handle stress better than non-gamer fellows & develop a more controlled response to a stressful work.



The ‘heartbreak kids’ can release the frustration through an action game, sports, fighting, social or adventure game. And some games are as if made for them! These train you how to fall in love & retain it. The intelligent games are almost like an enjoyable grooming session of how to dress makeup & cook thus boosting up your confidence. Though these are mainly tagged as girly games, as I’ve said earlier, games don’t follow a gander bias.
Angry? Try a shooting game. It will give you a vent to your anger. Indeed quite contradictory to the general studies that indicate the opposite.
Doesn’t an improved eye-sight definitely give a leash of life to your sensory organs? A game-play tests your vision to its limits thus improves the eye-sight 20 times better.
Video games are your friends of the sleepless lonely nights & days. Games like Bejewelled, Half-life etc. keep you intrigued in their mazes & will make you forget everything else.
Why you love action games? Ever wondered? In an action game the structured story & the happy ending upon winning the boss enemy offers a out of the world winning feeling. Finding hidden objects is one of the best de-stressing games.
Moreover, you can quit a game anytime you want. What can be more relieving than this?
Doesn’t the reward & punishment system pulls you again & again? Some games, like, Braid allows rewinding & correcting the mistakes, thus making the experience fun & light-hearted minus the pressure.
Reduce stress related medical disorders like cardiovascular disease, diabetes etc.
However, a particular game may not be equally de-stressing for all. One person may find it agitating while the other may find it relaxing.

Certain games seem to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which can reduce the increased tension- a natural response to stress.
Train the brain to live in the moment.
Make you stop thinking so much.
The brand extensions of some games make game-play more interesting.


Did you know that heartbeats are linked with various emotional states? Did you know that even soldiers, military personals, surgeons need to play games to lift up their spirit & adeptness in work? Sounds awkward? Well, gaming, in fact, is perhaps the only tool that adds an edge to your personality & profession without your active knowledge.

Some games even keep a close tab on a player’s heartbeat to gain greater control over their emotional response to stressful situations.

Soldiers, who learn to control their emotions by playing games, are better able to perform under pressure & recover quickly from trauma.

Surgeons become 25% faster & 32% less erroneous.

Video game-play Vs Pain

Pain relief & video game? Possible? Let’s see-

Games distracts the attention from the pain & thus provide a kind of an Analgesic reaction.
Prepare the brain to respond more normally to painful stimuli.
Leela, for example, is a game that includes 43 interactive exercises to focus on the body’s 7 energy centres.

You may argue why you should opt for a couch tightening VR game if you can avail a playground? But where would you go & play? When will you play? The skyscrapers & the concrete roads are gulping down the green pastures.

You are always short of time. Aren’t you? In that case, a motion capture game or a VR is the best-possible solution. But don’t just play a game. Interact with it. I am not saying that you have to be a hardcore gamer. But to take out the most of the benefits, get better at the game by practicing whenever you get a chance. Most of us become aware of the stress level only when it reaches an extreme point. So nip it in the bud. At every game, a point comes when it becomes undefeatable. Avoid that for the time being if it stresses you. Enjoy a family game with the little ones. Avoid games with unclear instructions. Remember, each & every game-play, no matter what the duration is, leaves a positive impact on your mental & physical health. So enjoy every bit of your VR playtime.