How to Use Gaming to De-Stress
By: Ryan Fan
Tags: Mental Health, Psychology, Self, Gaming, Features

How to Use Gaming to De-Stress

There is substantial evidence to support the value of video games as tools to reduce stress

It’s the middle of the day and I just got off two long work meetings. My eyes hurt from essentially living on my computer screen since March. I had so much to do between work, graduate school, and my side hustle of writing and editing. I fell into another one of those stages where I just didn’t do any of it because I was so overwhelmed and stressed. And today is a lighter day at work, too.

But with assignments piling up and pending deadlines coming at me from all directions, I felt so stressed I could barely function. Honestly, I haven’t been enjoying much of, well, anything lately.

During my planning period (the period a teacher has time to plan, and not teach), I decided to stop working. I just couldn’t do it anymore, and this is saying a lot coming from someone that prides himself heavily on work ethic. I have a couple of important assignments due for my Master’s at Johns Hopkins University tomorrow evening, too. But I know myself — I’ll get it done and put in my best effort. And if it’s not perfect, it’s a long semester, so I need to pace myself and not burn out.

But why haven’t any of my obligations been fun? Why hasn’t anything been fun for the last three weeks? Yes, fun is for the privileged, but it would be just great if I could actually enjoy what I do instead of seeing every task as an obligation to soldier my way through — if nothing is fun, that’s also an unsustainable reality, at least for me.

So, I turned to some of the most fun activities I know — video games. During my planning period, I turned on my PS4 and played Final Fantasy VII: Remake. I have been moving slowly — very slowly at the game and defeated some bosses and some enemies as I made my way up the Sector 7 Reactor. It took about 30 minutes, but next, I played Fall Guys and made it past the first round, but got sabotaged in the second round.

I usually put a lot of stock and perfectionism into how I play my games. I always want 100% completion and to get every treasure chest or item possible, but this time, I played very mindlessly and went through the motions, not caring about missing a treasure chest or stealing every item from a boss.

And it was fun. It was some of the only fun I’ve had in weeks, and I felt a load of stress off my shoulders and learned a lesson going forward: no matter how stressed I am, fun isn’t just a luxury and privilege. Having fun makes things easier.

As for the gaming, I’m glad Final Fantasy and Fall Guys got me to internalize that message. According to Elizabeth Scott at Very Well Mind, research shows that gaming is a way to relieve stress, which actually runs counter to the narrative that video games make people more violent, stressed out, and aggressive. Scott cites a 2016 study in Computers in Human Behavior that shows that gamers often reported that playing games reduced stress. The study showed a slightly greater effect on stress reduction for cooperative games than for competitive games.

Not only does gaming reduce stress, but in cooperative games especially, gamers, in the words of Scott, “retained positive feelings toward the other players” and thus provided positive social experiences. In a 2009 study in the Journal of Media Psychology, Leonard Reinecke found that participants with the emotion-coping style used games for de-stressing and recovery more than participants with problem-coping style. Essentially, gaming gives a “recovery experience” that makes gaming so appealing in the first place.

Reinecke concluded, however, that people who associated gaming with stress recovery did experience more stress recovery. Scott also emphasizes that gaming incentivizes positive emotional regulations, especially when gamers get upset. Many games have built-in mechanisms to resolve negative feelings or seek out social support from other players. Games tend to reward players who are able to manage their emotions and work towards solutions when challenged. In Scott’s words:

“One key difference between those who coped well and those who were less effective copers was the ability to monitor their own feelings and internal states — what is known as interoceptive awareness.”

What kinds of video games to play to de-stress

Scott separates the recommended video games to relieve stress as the following:

Casual Games

Cooperative Games

Games With an Explicit Stress-Management Component

Games That Build Skills

Games You Really Enjoy

Casual games are games that are simple, that you can play in only a couple of minutes. Cooperative games involve challenges that can be completed with other players. Games with an explicit stress-management component are games that were actually created to help people manage stress. Games that build skills are, well, self-explanatory — you can play games to learn languages or solve problems. And anything you really enjoy is a stress-reliever too.

Ultimately, you know yourself best, so do what works for you. If gaming only causes more stress, then don’t do it. But if taking a couple of minutes to play Candy Crush is what you need to do, then, by all means, do it.

Photo by Drew Coffman on Unsplash.

For me, gaming is best when it is a stress-reliever and temporary relief than what it was when I was younger when gaming was an addiction. I’m sure I’ll be stressed again soon while I’m getting my assignments in at the last minute, but for now, a little bit of fun doesn’t hurt.