At last, an excuse: Tetris eases long-term stress

Despite what the highly scientific illustration above might suggest, researchers at Oxford University have suggested that playing Tetris can assist in the treatment of post-traumatic stress.

According to the research, playing a spot of Tetris after a particularly shocking event can help reduce the number of harrowing flashbacks.

The white coats at Oxford tested this by revealing traumatic images to 40 unaffected volunteers. Half an hour later, 20 of these volunteers were allowed to play Tetris for ten minutes, with the Tetris players reporting fewer nasty flashbacks over the following week.

This, argued research lead Dr. Emily Holmes, is because memories can become permanent six hours after trauma, yet playing Tetris can “interfere with the way our memories are retained in the brain.” In the future, speculates Holmes, Tetris may be used to calm hospitalised accident victims, or those suffering in the world’s war zones.

See also:The Tetris god in action

[Via Yahoo! Games]