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Games Take Away the Pain
Gamasutra reports on a Wheeling Jesuit University study that indicates gameplaying can allow those with great pain to live more fulfilling lives. From the article: "The Wheeling study compared several different genres of games in their effects on pain. Six types of games were used: action, puzzle, arcade, fighting, sports, and boxing, all varieties that encourage high attention and stimulus. (Games such as RPGs and graphical adventures were likely left out of the survey for their low-impact nature.) The game types most effective in distracting from pain, meted out by cold pressor tests after 10 minutes of each subject playing a particular game type, were the sports and fighting games."
Games (especially RPGs) are, in my opinion, the ultimate form of escapism. I'm not sure this need for constant stimulation is a good thing or not, but it really is a great way of avoiding the feelings of pain, embarrassment, and sadness.
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Six types of games were used: action, puzzle, arcade, fighting, sports, and boxing
How is boxing a type of game? Wouldn't it fall under fighting and/or sports?
I use this technique. I get migraines (full on once per 6-8 weeks, mini-migraines once per 2 weeks).
And when I say migraine I don't mean "Oh, my head hurts." I mean "I see bright spots, Now one side of my head feels like a stiletto is being driven into it. I think I'll take a triptan (pill) and lie down and get nauseous for 6-12 hours. Then I think I'll feel weak with random short stiletto pains for 2-7 days."
BTW, thank God for triptans. Until 5 years ago the doctor approved remedy was "take two sleeping pills and go to bed". I have trained myself to go unconscious as quickly as possible once a migraine starts. The triptan doesn't solve the initial headache, but it substantially reduces the secondary effects, making me an invalid for only 1-2 days as opposed to a full week.
Playing a game that consumes as much of my attention as possible greatly relieves that pain. And, while I am sure adrenaline doesn't hurt, it isn't needed. Reading a consuming book or watching consuming TV works just as well. Even computer programming works to dull the pain.
But "consuming" is the important point. Crap TV is useless. I have to care more, much more, about what is going on on the screen or in the book than I do about my head.
Another reason games and TV work better than reading, is that the migraine makes it hard to focus on text. The words jump around or bright spots appear in my field of vision. Things that are constantly changing and have large visual areas (vs the pinpoint area for reading) means that I can lose more of the information on the screen and still understand (or not even notice the visual error).