Name one thing that makes it hard to diet and most people agree–it’s the hunger pangs that drive us crazy. And while heaps of vegetables, fruit, and appetite suppressants may stop the food cravings temporarily, they’re hardly a permanent fix–and can leave you heading for the fridge after dark.
But now a new study says there’s a better way to fight it: By playing Tetris.
This odd finding comes from Plymouth University’s Cognition Institute, which found that playing Tetris forces the brain to focus all of its energy into playing the game, causing hunger to take a back seat.
“It’s great to really want to eat or make love, if that’s possible right now,” says David Kavanagh of the Queensland University of Technology, who did not participate in the study. “But it’s a torture if you can’t. So, if we can help people deal with craving–blunt it a bit, or give them some time out–it can not only help them stay in control, but it may make them feel a bit better as well.”
Why Tetris Helps You Lose Weight
For most people, it’s a dream come true: Playing video games to stop hunger pangs.
But believe it or not, it’s reality, according to new research.
Here’s how they discovered this phenomenon. Researchers first recruited a group of healthy adults and asked them to do one of the following–sit in front of a computer loading screen or play a game of Tetris. While doing so, the participants were also dealing with intermittent hunger pangs, and they were asked to report how strong these pangs were while being engaged in these tasks.
For those who were not engaged in any stimulating activity, obviously, their hunger pangs were just as bad as usual. But for those who were playing Tetris, they reported 24 percent fewer hunger pangs, suggesting that indeed Tetris could be an appetite suppressant.
“What this and some other recent studies do, is flip this around,” says Kavanagh. “If craving interferes with other tasks, what about using other tasks to interfere with craving? And if craving is linked to imagery, what about using another task that requires similar limited cognitive space– like this game.”
As a plus, this bit of news should be good for gamers–especially if they want to lose weight.
“This is because we have a limited capacity in our brains to hold things in attention and work on them,” says Kavanagh. “This study is important, in that it uses desires that are just naturally occurring, and shows that the idea still works.”
What You Should Do
Suffering from hunger pangs? Before going to the fridge, consider playing a video game that keeps you occupied, such as Tetris–but for even more of a challenge, a game such as Bejeweled or Candy Crush works just as well. Just the act of focusing on the game seems to re-wire your brain’s needs, which helps take the edge off intolerable food cravings.
Readers: What other ways do you avoid hunger pangs?
Source:
Playing Tetris Stops Food Cravings [Study] – Discovery.com
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