A wise insurance company once said, “Life comes at you fast.” And boy, does it. One day you’re a kid staying up late trying to get all the stars so you can meet Yoshi in Mario 64, the next you’re an adult, trying to figure why you still have to pay money at the doctor’s office when you have insurance.  A co-pay? What does that even mean?  

So stresses can add up as you get older. But luckily, video games have been proven to help relieve stress. I can’t think of a better medication. From the time you were little, your parents swore that video games would rot your brain. But according to several studies, video games not only don’t rot your brain (told you Mom!), they can actually help you concentrate, develop critical thinking skills, and remove some symptoms of anxiety.  

Focusing Attention Elsewhere

Of course, not every video game is the same, or has the same results on everyone. Every person responds differently. But the best video games for helping people with natural anxiety work on something called “The Theory of Attention”. And the explanation is pretty simple. Anxiety often manifests because people spend so much time worrying about what could go wrong, that the worrying itself becomes a problem. The way that video games help battle that is by replacing that fixation on a different source. For example, if I find myself deeply immersed into Fallout 4, wondering how I’m going to save Graygarden from some Synths for the 8th time in ten days, that doesn’t leave me a lot of time to worry about the horrible day I had.

So by building turrets and guard towers, we become too focused on the game to spend our time worrying about unfortunate factors that are out of our control.  

And of course, you don’t need to play Fallout to experience these effects. Different games have been shown to help in different areas. Tetris has been proven to help those diagnosed with PTSD, and that’s a game about blocks falling on top of other blocks. If a game that simple can help combat something as complex and difficult as PTSD, imagine what some of the more layered games we enjoy could possibly accomplish. 

Video Games as a Solution

As a disclaimer, we aren’t here to say that you need to entirely immerse yourself in video games, but rather we would like to share a unique outlet for the general population to cope with harmful amounts of anxiety. After all, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States and amount to 18% of the population.  

Stress reaches us all, even the happiest people. Ask any person who plays video games why they play video games, and right after they say, “Because being Batman is awesome duh”, they’ll probably mention them as a way to just blow off some steam, and medical research is rapidly proving them correct. Gamers have always known that video games relieve stress, whether it’s beating someone mercilessly on Madden or just relaxing with a few minutes of Candy Crush during your break at work. And in fact, according to a study from the University of Central Florida, people who played video games at work reported more energy, a higher level of cognitive performance, and lower stress. Now, this doesn’t mean you should drag your dual monitors into the office, but it shows the power of video gaming in a typically high stress situation.  

Now, it would be awesome if your doctor wrote you a prescription for 10 hours of your favorite game, but it doesn’t seem that amount of gaming is even required to see positive results from gaming. Most video games and stress relief studies show that as little as 15 minutes of gaming is enough to improve concentration and raise your energy level. Now, 15 minutes might not make a dent into a Skyrim session, but playing handheld games like Angry Birds, Clash Royale, or Snake (hello 1995!) take just a few minutes to play, and can provide a boost to your overall mood.  

Motivation is key when helping overcome the key to overcoming anxiety, and video games provide an outlet unlike any other in this regard. Studies have found that players who were gearing up to take on that final boss or beat that last level showed a sharp decrease in both negative thoughts and overall anxiety. Some video game developers have taken this to heart, and there are several games out there that are designed with anxious or depressed people in mind. Games like Sparx, Prune, and Personal Zen have all been tested to show that just by playing them, stress and anxiety levels were reduced drastically. And games like Pokemon Go can also reduce stress in a different way by getting the user moving and interacting in the world around them, which is a proven way to reduce stress hormones and increase the release of feel good hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.  

So while your parents may have been well meaning when they told you about the dangers of video games, it also turns out that they were may have been wrong. Video games have many health benefits, like increased motor and reasoning skills. And now you can add stress and anxiety relief to that list. So sorry, Dad, but I need to play that second hour of Call of Duty. For my own good. 

What are your favorite video games to help you unwind? Are you someone who games at work? Let us know!