Not long ago, I joined a new small Startup company, and just like any fresh start, there’s a mountain of new things to learn and understand, tools, libraries, new languages, and concepts.
As I was adapting to the new environment, I noticed that two of my teammates were occasionally playing a quick 10–15 min Tetris session.
Since I was never a Tetris guy, I wasn’t that interested in playing so much, but I gave it a try after a couple of weeks.
It took me quite some time to adapt to the speed of my teammates (one of them, the R&D manager, is quite the pro); I’ve stepped up my game and tried to keep up with them little by little.
After playing for some time, I noticed a weird pattern, I played Tetris during the most challenging hours of my day, practically using it as a distraction to clear my mind during code-burnout or when I was tired.
When I’m playing during my most challenging hours of the day, my keyboard clicks are slow, I’m making a lot of Tetris blocks miss-placement, ignoring the next block. But after 3–4 games, everything is getting back to focus, movement is faster and more accurate.
It made me wonder how gaming affects our brain, Tetris in particular.
After digging up some data on the internet, I came across several interesting pieces of research about Tetris:
- Tetris is good for your brain. According to a study, brain imaging shows that playing Tetris for three months leads to a thicker cortex and a decreased blood flow in the frontal area. Possibly making the brain more efficient.
- According to a study, Tetris can help with craving. Tetris can reduce the strength of cravings for food, cigarettes, and alcohol.
- Tetris might help with PTSD.
In conclusion, playing visuospatial computer games like Tetris could lead to a thicker cortex, possibly improving overall brain efficiency.
I mainly play for fun and when I want to clear my mind and rebuild my focus again.
Just Don’t play too much, so you won’t get the Tetris effect.
