Video games to combat stress

Will I be able to pay the mortgage? Will I lose my job? These are questions that many Spaniards may have asked themselves in recent years, considering the results of the Global Workforce study conducted in 2012 by the Towers Watson consultancy. In their report, they conclude that 74 percent of Spaniards are worried about their long-term economy. And it is that when one sees the news about the world economic situation it is easy to feel how our heart beats fast, we get sweats, we are unable to sleep peacefully and it is hard for us to concentrate . And we can not avoid feeling anxious and somewhat depressed at the vision of the country and the unflattering prospects.

All these responses are associated with what we commonly call 'stress'. The stress is a natural response of the body, vital to address environmental situations that may pose a danger or the need to adapt. The stress response involves intense changes in our body. Among them, chemical substances such as adrenaline and cortisol are released, the sympathetic nervous system manages an increase in heart and respiratory rate, and increase blood glucose levels. We even know that stress can modify brain anatomy destroying brain connections. But, this essential phenomenon becomes a risk to health when it becomes chronic, leading to harmful effects that we know as immunodeficiency, insomnia, memory problems, anxiety and depression, among others. Currently the economic situation is favorable to this type of demand to the body, we feel threatened, frustrated, our life goals are often paralyzed by the worsening of working conditions, the loss of work or the situation of prolonged unemployment.

How to manage stress? Beyond the pharmacological treatments that are used to mitigate the symptoms, there are other types of interventions with fewer side effects. Stress incoculation techniques in psychological therapy have been used successfully to train people in coping with real and potential stressful situations. Learning to relax, generate self-instructions and perform exposure exercises are fundamental aspects of this training.

However, beyond the consultations of specialists, new technologies and among them the practice of videogames of various kinds, find their way as an economic and fun way of anti-stress technique. In 2009, the Journal of Cybertherapy and Rehabilitation published a study on the positive effects of playing popular video games about health. The researchers recorded the electroencephalographic activity and the variability of the cardiac rate of a group of people while playing different video games. When comparing the results with those of other participants who did not play, they found two fundamental findings. On the one hand, changes in the alpha activity of the frontal areas of the brainwhich were associated with a better mood and mental relaxation. On the other, a lower cardiac rate that was interpreted as a lower response of the autonomic nervous system and less physical stress.

Classically, there have been many more studies on the harmful effects of video games on health than on the beneficial ones, but it seems that recent publications predict a positive change in this regard .