More how to chill out…

In my previous post I said that the activity you do to chill out doesn’t matter it you just need to enjoy it and it absorbs you.

So why not consider paying video games, yes video games.  If you ask any gamer, who enjoys playing them and they will tell you it help them relax or de-stress.  I know this may sound unlikey.  However that is scientific research to support the idea that regularly playing video games can help people unwind an dimprove their ability to handle everyday stress.

In 2010 Associate Professor Dr. Christopher J. Ferguson of the Texas A&M Public Research Facility demonstrated that both men and women who play violent video games long-term seem to be able to adopt mental skills to handle stress, become less depressed and get less hostile during stressful tasks.  In 2014 reserarchers from University College London  found that people who played video games after work experienced faster recovery from work related stress.

While there are a number of video games on the market which are specifically aimed at helping people unwind and manage stress, it seems that almost any form of game playing will do the trick.  Spending half an hour each day on a video console could be be as effective as going to the gym for helping you “chill out” at the end of a busy day.

References

http://www.christopherjferguson.com/hitman.pdf

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1418103/

 

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