Study: Playing Tetris could reduce your cravings

Thinkstock

Study: Playing Tetris could reduce your cravings
(Image credit: Thinkstock)

Who knew there could be something satisfying about a never-ending game? A new study published in Appetite found that playing Tetris for just three minutes can lessen cravings for food, cigarettes, and alcohol.

Researchers at Plymouth University's Cognition Institute asked study participants to rank their cravings in terms of strength. Half of the participants then played a game of a Tetris, while the other half watched a screen that attempted to load the game, but never actually did. After the exercise, both groups were asked to rate their cravings again. The researchers found that overall, the cravings of the Tetris-playing participants were 24 percent weaker after their brief digital distraction.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Samantha Rollins

Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.