Play Tetris to free yourself from your addictions

We’ve all tried at least once to nest and line up those funny colorful geometric shapes that fall off the screen while playing Tetris. Extremely addicting, this game, where the elements are piling up at breakneck speed, can easily make you lose your mind. However, it would have therapeutic virtues against other addictions, according to the conclusions of a recent British study published in the journal Addictive Behaviors.

At the origin of this research, psychologists from the University of Plymouth (Great Britain), who, in 2014, conducted a first laboratory study with a control group. The results showed that three minutes a day spent playing Tetris is enough to reduce cravings for snacks or cigarettes by 24%.

The new study was carried out directly in the field, which the researchers say provides even more realistic results. 31 students aged between 18 and 27 agreed to take part in the experience. The researchers then identified their “addictive impulses”: junk food, alcohol, drugs, sex, coffee. They then asked them to play Tetris at least 7 times during the same day. There again, a second control group which had the same desires but which did not play, made it possible to test the dissuasive power of the game.

Break the cycle

According to the researchers, the intensity of the irresistible urge to consume alcohol, coffee, cocaine or have sex could be reduced by 70% in the first group!

Explanation: addiction to alcohol, chocolate, tobacco or even cocaine is based on the principle that episodes of envy represent a cycle. The individual becomes aware of it by creating mental images of this desire, which generates the lack. The more the feeling of lack is vivid, the more the images are. Tetris interferes with these seizures by stimulating the brain to another visual source.

Playing this game so as not to succumb to its darkest temptations seems to be a good alternative… as long as you don’t get hooked!