Work Stressing You Out? Play Pokemon

Feeling stressed?  Take deep breaths.  Close your eyes and imagine your favorite beach spot.  Try to put what you're worrying about out of your mind, think of releasing it like a balloon.

Everything fail?  Try playing a video game.

I kid you not.  That's what a new study is saying, according to newswise.com.

It doesn't much matter if you're an executive assistant or marketing manager, sitting in an office.  But what if you're a commercial pilot, responsible for hundreds of lives?  Or a surgeon?

More than half of Americans regularly experience cognitive fatigue related to stress, frustration, and anxiety while at work. Those in safety-critical fields, such as air traffic control and health care, are at an even greater risk for cognitive fatigue, which could lead to errors, the web site reports. 

Given the amount of time that people spend playing games on their smartphones and tablets, a team of human factors/ergonomics researchers decided to evaluate whether casual video game play is an effective way to combat workplace stress during rest breaks.

Michael Rupp and study coauthors used a computer-based task to induce cognitive fatigue in 66 participants, who were then given a five-minute rest break. During the break, participants either played a casual video game called Sushi Cat, participated in a guided relaxation activity, or sat quietly in the testing room without using a phone or computer. At various times throughout the experiment, the researchers measured participants’ stress level, mood and cognitive performance.

Those who took a silent rest break reported that they felt less engaged with work and experienced worry as a result, whereas those who participated in the guided relaxation activity saw reductions in negative affect and distress. Only the video game players reported that they felt better after taking the break.

Rupp, a doctoral student in human factors and cognitive psychology at the University of Central Florida, notes, “We often try to power through the day to get more work finished, which might not be as effective as taking some time to detach for a few minutes. People should plan short breaks to make time for an engaging and enjoyable activity, such as video games, that can help them recharge.”

So should you play Candy Crush or Red Dead Redemption?  Probably not.  But a nice calming game like Angry Birds (is that still around? can you tell I'm not a game-player) or Pokemon should do the trick.  Unfortunately, the study had no advice for if your boss catches catch you.