Keep calm and graduate: playing video games proven to de-stress students

Playing video games could be the secret to de-stressing in your last term. Tab reporter, Ian Critchley affirms research that taking your stress out on on Pokémon could lead to a happier life.

Whether you’re the kind of person who leaves everything until minutes before the deadline, or the type who obsesses constantly on every inane detail of an essay from the moment the assignment is given, university life can be one of the most stressful times in the life of higher education seeking humans.

Thankfully, as a person who has dealt with high anxiety for almost a decade and survived to the very end of university with most of my vital organs intact, over the years I’ve amassed a plethora of hints, tips, and techniques you can utilise to de-stress and survive until graduation. In the Netflix original smash House Of Cards, megalomaniac lead Frank Underwood, a corrupt US congressman with a work ethic that would make James Brown feel ashamed, spends an hour a night playing video games as a way to decompress.

With a little research I found a multitude of articles showing how bashing the hell out of buttons on a nightly basis could dramatically reduce stress, allowing for clearer thinking and a relaxed attitude in both lectures and personal study.

Studies show that a passion for Pokémon makes guys 1000x more attractive to women.

In fact, the studies were tested on none other than students. This is partially due to the high stress, low sleep, lifestyle of most students, but mostly because the majority of students will willingly allow themselves to be a human lab rat to earn a few extra pennies.

Psychcentral reported that: “In a 2004 study of 56 students, a standard reaction-time test showed that the game, called the Matrix, helped people shift the way they processed social information.” This information will no doubt infuriate the masses of overbearing parents who worry that video games are corrupting their child’s life. There’s a lot of information for this argument admittedly, and a METRO poll found that “61% of Britons think video games cause violence”.

For ultimate brain development, it’s best to start gaming from a young age

But by using the crafty tool of common sense it’s easy to see why this idea is moronic. If I’m of a disposition where I take great comfort in violence, doesn’t it make more sense for me to take out that pent up aggression on a world of pixels than that of flesh and blood? Let us not forget the highly controversial Grand Theft Auto V, which saved the lives of the entirety of British Gas’ staff by allowing a little old lady to play out her destructive fantasy rather than act out in the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zGvrMNHiKQ

So I decided to try this method of decompressing out, as stats and facts are nothing in comparison to personal experience, and, being a huge nerd for RPGs, constantly on the move, and still wanting to hold on to my claim of being my secondary schools ‘Pokémon Champion’, I decided to try it with the latest in the Pokémon series, X and Y.

The real key to success at uni is to dedicate all your free time to Pokémon (Ash costume optional).

It worked pretty well, over the years the game as developed from a 2D cutesy romp for young teens into some insanely strategic 3D game of chess, where every move and action has to be carefully planned and thought out, that should only be truly attempted by someone on intellectual par with Stephen Hawking.

I’m no Stephen Hawking, but by spending an hour or so each evening catching, training, and crafting my ultimate Pokémon team after a hard day’s work in the land of reality, I found that my mind began to fret over the little things less, I started to sleep like the proverbial baby, and I became a much more pleasant (though far more nerdy) human being to be around.

Who would have thought catching made up digital creatures on a tiny handheld console could have so many beneficial effects? So go forth and bash those damn buttons like your life depended on it!