Seems like playing with this addictive block game has its benefits after all!
A new study in the journal Appetite shows that playing Tetris could help to decrease cravings by preventing the brain from painting pictures of cravings-inducing imagery.
“Episodes of craving normally only last a few minutes, during which time an individual is visualising what they want and the reward it will bring,” study researcher Jackie Andrade, a professor at Plymouth University, explained in a statement.
“Often those feelings result in the person giving in and consuming the very thing they are trying to resist. But by playing Tetris, just in short bursts, you are preventing your brain [from] creating those enticing images and without them the craving fades.”
For the study, researchers got the participants to state down their cravings and rate them based on how strong they were. Then, they sat in front of computer screens to play Tetris. Some of the participants played Tetris, while the others were told that the game was loading (but it never did load, thereby preventing them from playing).
After three minutes, the researchers had the participants rate the strength of their cravings once again. They found that those who played Tetris reported 24 percent weaker cravings, compared with those whose game never loaded.
Although this is a very peculiar study, research shows that Tetris could do way more than just beat back cravings. Playing the game will give you fewer PTSD-related flashbacks and it could also help adults with lazy eye.
[Source]
