Many students come home from school and find relief through the world of video games. Recent studies have found video games decrease stress. Video games might be more beneficial for stress relief than we could ever have thought.

According to the article “Video Games as Stress Relievers” written by Elizabeth Scott, “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.” This shows how some video games are not only fun to play but also have helped our emotional awareness and coping skills. A study was done in the Netherlands, a Behavioral Science Institution. The Scientists have used the game Starcraft 2  as their experiment to determine the players’ gaming mechanism and if it is related to their stress levels. The scientist then found how several players found useful coping strategies that handle their negative emotions. The player can cope with their negative emotions by problem-solving. Another study examined how players playing games that are competitive or cooperative have decreased the level of stress that had originally been higher. 

The article Neurobiological Link between Stress and Gaming: A Scoping Review by Grace Y. Wang, Dovile Simkute, and Inga Griskova-Bulanova goes into depth into a study on how video games are effective. The article shows evidence and usage of data. This article proves how video games are a way to cope with stress.

Colin McLaughlin, a Las Vegas Academy student said, “If I’m stressed, playing video games helps me calm down a bit, and it just makes me happy, it just gives me good memories. I tend to play action just because action games are fun.”

Video games are not only stress relieving to play but also fun to play with family and friends. Try out playing a video game and have that stress minimized!