SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully

Super Better

Turning our palms up triggers a powerful mind-body response. With our palms up, we adopt an “approach and consider” mindset. We’re less likely to reject or dismiss new information or ideas, and we’re better able to spot new opportunities and solutions. With palms down, however, we adopt a “refuse and resist” mindset. We’re more likely to reject new information and overlook creative ideas (1)
Medical researchers have tested Snow World in clinical trials. Here’s what they learned: this VR game reduced pain by a whopping 30 to 50 percent. For the most severe burn patients, the game proved to have a bigger impact on their pain and overall suffering than the morphine they also received (2)… human attention is like a spotlight. Your brain can process and absorb only a limited amount of new information at any given moment. So you focus on one source of information at a time, ignoring everything else. As a result, information everywhere competes constantly for your brain’s attention—sights, sounds, tastes, smells, thoughts, and physical sensations (3)… This is exactly what scientists observed when they decided to study the brain activity of Snow World players using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This technology allows researchers to see where blood is flowing in the brain—the more blood flow, the more active that region of the brain. In Snow World studies, fMRI footage showed reduced blood flow to all five regions of the brain associated with processing pain. This data revealed that players weren’t just doing a better job of dealing with the pain they felt—they were actively blocking the brain from dedicating resources to processing the pain signals (4)… a simple handheld game—the kind you can play on your mobile phone or iPad—can also block pain signals effectively (5)… Or if you prefer a nongaming solution, you can choose any challenging activity that successfully captures your full attention. Research suggests, for example, that knitting and crafting both require enough brain-processing resources to successfully reduce chronic pain (6)
playing Tetris within six hours of viewing traumatic imagery helped reduce flashbacks of the traumatic events. It worked so well, in fact, that the Oxford researchers proposed that a single tenminute session of Tetris could effectively serve as a “cognitive vaccine” against PTSD. Play the game as soon as possible after a traumatic event, and you may significantly reduce your likelihood of experiencing severe post-traumatic stress… But if you play a less visual game, like Scrabble or a trivia quiz, this technique doesn’t work. Your brain will have too many visual processing resources still available to replay traumatic images (7)
Multiple studies have shown that playing Tetris for three minutes while feeling an intense craving cuts the intensity of the craving by 25 percent (8)
Research has shown that cravings have a very strong visual component. The more you mentally imagine yourself enjoying what you crave, the more likely you are to give in. To resist a craving, you simply need to give your brain’s visual-processing centers something else to visualize—and you’ll find the craving significantly reduced (9)
nicotine-deprived smokers were able to reduce their cravings by playing two-player cooperative games with their relationship partners. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans showed that cooperative game play and puzzle solving lit up the same reward centers of the brain that nicotine does. The scientists believe this is evidence that social games and puzzles could provide smokers with an alternative neurological pathway to feeling a reward when they crave it most (10)
falling in love also dampens cravings for food, alcohol, and drugs, by activating the same reward pathways (11)
Kids who are allowed to play handheld video games—such as Super Mario on the Nintendo DS— experience virtually no anxiety before surgery. And after surgery, they wake up from anesthesia with less than half the anxiety of children given drugs—and with zero medication side effects (12)
Is any form of pleasurable distraction a viable tool for disrupting the anxiety cycle? It turns out, no. Studies have shown that other similar attempts to prevent presurgery anxiety in kids have limited or no impact. Comic books, music, cartoons—none of these distractions tested nearly as well as games in the operating room (13)
The group’s first randomized, controlled trial found that a twenty-minute session of casual game play decreased left frontal alpha brain waves, which typically indicates improved mood. Indeed, on a survey, the players with decreased alpha brain waves reported feeling in a better mood. They had significantly less anger, depression, and tension and more energy. A comparison group that simply surfed the Internet for twenty minutes had no significant EEG changes and no reported improvements in mood or energy level. The game players, meanwhile, also experienced significant improvements in heart rate variability. After just twenty minutes of play, their hearts were able to withstand more stress and recover more quickly (14)
Participants were all suffering from anxiety, depression, or both at the start of the study. After one month of this game play routine, they saw significant reductions in depression, anxiety, and general stress levels across the board. Their EEG and heart rate variability measures—both significantly improved—confirmed these perceived emotional changes at a physiological level (15)
A 2012 meta-analysis of thirty-eight randomized, controlled trials of video games published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found significant promise for video games to improve psychological health outcomes(16)
When two people play Hedgewars together in the same room, they experience what Dr. Michiel Sovijärvi-Spapé and Dr. Niklas Ravaja describe as “neurological and physiological linkage.”1 The two players start to make the same facial expressions, smiling and frowning in unison. Their heart rates adapt to the same rhythm. Their breathing patterns sync. Most astonishingly, their brain waves sync, as their neurons start to “mirror” each other—a process that helps each of them anticipate what the other will do next. All these changes happen almost immediately, within minutes of starting to play. Surprisingly, this synchronization occurs whether the two players are cooperating or competing with each other. It doesn’t matter whether you consider your fellow player a teammate or an opponent. When you play Hedgewars together, your minds and bodies start to operate in near-perfect harmony(17)
As psychologists have recently discovered, all four types of synchronization—facial expression, heart rate, respiration, and neural activity—are strongly correlated with increased empathy and social bonding. The more we sync up with someone, the more we like them—and the more likely we are to help them in the future (18)
any game played simultaneously by two people in the same physical location creates this same kind of “mind meld” and body synchronization—laying the foundation for a more powerful and positive relationship after the game is over (19)
when a close friend tells you a story about his day, you experience what scientists call neural coupling. Your brain activity mirrors your friend’s as closely as if it were your own experience he was describing (20)
unhappily married couples actually go into downward spirals of synchronization when they argue.8 The more they fight, the more their minds and bodies align—but with negative, rather than positive, emotions. (More happily married couples, on the other hand, are actually less biologically linked during fights. Researchers theorize that they are better able to quickly mirror and process their partner ’s negative feelings without having to fully embody them(21)
Research shows that increasing our empathy for just one person in a group will improve our opinions about the entire group in general (22)
research shows that strong prejudice and dislike for someone else’s group can actually prevent us from experiencing neurological linkage (23)
researchers have been curious to find out whether playing a social network game with someone makes people more likely to socialize with them in real life. Study after study has found that it does. When you play a game like Farmville or Words with Friends with a friend or family member, you not only feel closer to them, you’re also more likely to see them in person or to have conversations with them about nongame, real-life events. And if you play cooperative games together, you’re more likely to ask each other for, or offer each other, help with a real-life problem (24)
people who play online games together cooperatively or as a team report getting more real-life social support from each other. And the support is meaningful—it includes everything from getting advice on a problem and tangible support like monetary assistance, to emotional support like reassurance and listening (25)
Winning a game against a stranger—particularly when playing a video game with strong themes of domination and destruction, like Call of Duty—creates distinct physiological and neurological changes. Your testosterone surges, and as a result, you have a diminished neural capacity for empathy… You feel more powerful and aggressive, and you’re less likely to be kind or sympathetic to anyone you perceive as weak.23 (Men, it seems, are particularly vulnerable to this effect; women tend to see a smaller spike in testosterone after winning. (26)
The most recent game research suggests that much of the aggression that has long been associated with “violent video games” is actually related to feelings of incompetence after losing. (27)
a recent study showed that playing Call of Duty competitively against other players in the same physical space actually decreased aggression and hostility and increased empathy, as much as playing cooperatively did (just as with Hedgewars, the game you read about at the beginning of this chapter). (28)
Cole and his collaborators hoped that patients would become more committed to their treatment plans if they learned more about chemotherapy in the empowering context of a video game. These lessons were integrated right into the game play. For example, when the virtual patient in the game skips a chemotherapy dose, Roxxi’s chemo-blaster weapon starts to malfunction, misfiring every third shot. Skip another chemotherapy dose, and more virtual cancer cells survive each blast. Skip again, and cancer cells become drug-resistant, further increasing the challenge of each level. So did it work? Yes, overwhelmingly. In a clinical trial, patients who played Re-Mission for as little as two hours had greater medication adherence for three months… Electronic pill-cap monitors showed that the game players took 16 percent more antibiotic doses over a three-month period than nonplayers. This means the game effectively eliminated a whopping half of the typically missed doses. And when patients’ blood was drawn and tested, Re-Mission players had 41 percent higher doses of the cancer-fighting medication in their bodies. They were significantly more successful in keeping up with treatment—and therefore more likely to stay in remission (29)
frequent video gamers do indeed put more effort into difficult problem solving outside their favorite games. One recent study showed that gamers exhibited “a dispositional need to complete difficult tasks” and “the desire to exhibit high standards of performance in the face of frustration.” (30)
scientists have proposed that higher dopamine levels in the brain may actually be the most important driver of a solid work ethic (31)
frequent gamers—defined as people who play at least nine hours a week on average—have higher gray matter volume in the “left ventral striatum,” part of the reward-processing area of the brain… They attribute differences between the brains of frequent and infrequent game players to neuroplasticity, or the ability of the brain to rewire itself and strengthen different regions based on frequent activity.16 Daphne Bavelier, Ph.D., and her cognitive neuroscience laboratory at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, for example, have been studying the effect of action video games on brain plasticity and learning. After more than a decade of research, she believes that games lead to significant neural reorganization, resulting in increased attention, faster decision making, and more effective learning.17 Indeed, Dr. Bavelier has identified video games as potentially the single most effective intervention for increasing neuroplasticity in adults (32)
Making a prediction is one of the most reliable and efficient ways to prime the reward circuitry of the brain. “Every prediction you make triggers an increase in attention and dopamine,” says Dr. Willis. That’s because every time you make a prediction, two highly rewarding outcomes are possible. You might be right—which will feel good! Or, you might be wrong—which will give you information that will help you make a better prediction next time. Surprisingly, this will also feel good—because your brain loves learning. In fact, “the dopamine boost is often greater when you learn something new and useful than when you succeed,” Dr. Willis says. Dozens of scientific studies back up this claim. Gamers get a dopamine hit even during failure and losses—as long as they have a chance to try again (33)
In a study conducted by the VHIL, researchers found that participants who watched their virtual doppelgängers running on a treadmill reported feeling significantly higher confidence that they could exercise effectively. More important, after they left the lab, they exercised a full hour more than participants who watched their virtual doppelgänger stand around doing nothing. Over the next twenty-four hours, the participants with running avatars walked more city blocks, climbed more stairs, and spent more time in the gym (34)
this technique worked only when the avatars were specially created to look like the participants. Watching a generic male or female avatar exercise had zero effect on participants’ reallife movement… Because participants felt more closely connected to avatars that looked just like them, the mirror neuron effect was stronger (35)
participants were asked to lift weights while observing their avatars. Every time they completed a successful lift in real life, their virtual avatar changed shape, appearing more muscular and fit. During mandated breaks in the participants’ exercise, however, the avatars changed shape again, becoming heavier and flabbier. After just a few minutes of this interactive workout, participants were invited to stay for up to thirty minutes and continue their workout. Compared with a group that lifted weights without a virtual doppelgänger, they completed ten times as many exercises… vicarious exercise and vicarious weight loss significantly increase self-efficacy, and as a result, real-world exercise (36)
Take at least two full minutes to list everything you can think of that describes a generic superhero: what motivates them, how they treat others, what they do in the face of danger—you get the idea… study participants who completed the same quest you just completed were far more altruistic afterward. When asked to sign up to tutor local at-risk youth, twice as many participants who thought about superheroes volunteered as participants who did not think about superheroes (51 percent compared with 24 percent). Among those who volunteered, the superhero group volunteered twice as many hours (an hour a week versus half an hour a week, on average). Most surprisingly, a full three months later, the superhero participants were four times as likely to actually show up for a volunteering session. (37)
Games can make you smarter, particularly fast-paced action and racing video games like Call of Duty, Forza, and Grand Theft Auto. Individuals who frequently play action video games enjoy the following cognitive benefits: Improved visual attention and spatial intelligence skills, which predict higher achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Faster and more accurate decision making in high-stress, time-sensitive contexts Improved ability to track multiple streams of information simultaneously—up to three times as much information as an infrequent game player More efficient neural processing generally—the brain uses fewer resources during difficult tasks (38)
Strategic games, such as StarCraft, Mass Effect, and Final Fantasy, also improve concrete problem-solving skills that predict academic success and higher achievement in daily life. These benefits include: More effective information gathering Faster and more accurate evaluation of options Stronger ability to formulate and follow strategic plans Greater flexibility in generating alternative strategies or goals (39)
all genres of video games have been linked to greater creativity. Kids who spend more time playing games—including games with violent content—score higher on tests of creativity that involve storytelling, drawing, and problem solving (40)
Video games also help you learn to manage difficult emotions. This is especially true of very challenging, scary, or emotionally intense games, such as BioShock, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill. Frequent players of these games become T Better able to deal with frustration and anxiety in high-pressure situations More skillful at controlling extreme emotions like fear and anger (41)
People who frequently play team-based games, such as Call of Duty, League of Legends, and Team Fortress, show Stronger cooperative mindsets in daily life Improved communication and collaboration skills (42)
people who frequently play games that require them to organize groups and lead others in like-minded efforts, such as Guild Wars and World of Warcraft, are rated by others as Better leaders More effective motivators They are also more likely to engage in civic behavior, such as volunteering and raising money for charity (43)
I’ve spent five years investigating this issue, looking at everything from military studies of how much time troops spend playing video games, to player surveys of when their play starts to feel detrimental to their health and happiness. Here’s what I’ve found, again and again: at around twenty-one hours a week of digital game play, things start to go south. Twenty-one hours a week is the tipping point. (44)
playing SuperBetter for thirty days significantly reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety and increases optimism, social support, and self-efficacy. The study also found that people who followed the SuperBetter rules for one month were significantly happier and more satisfied with their lives (45)
interventions designed to increase positive emotions (like the power-ups described in this chapter) directly improved the health of the vagus nerve, which in turn improved the RSA numbers that represent the body’s resilience to stress. Not only that, but the stronger the vagus nerve became, the better able participants were to feel and provoke positive emotions on a daily basis (46)
Marriages thrive when couples rate their personal interactions as having a positive emotion ratio of 5:1. Couples who rate their interactions closer to a 1:1 ratio, however, more often than not will separate or divorce.12 People who are suffering from clinical depression tend to report positive emotion ratios of 1:1. After successful treatment, their ratios typically rise to between 2:1 and 4:1.13 Employees who calculate their own positive emotion ratios between 3:1 and 4:1 are evaluated by their employers as being more creative and effective at work.14 Cancer patients who report a positive emotion ratio of higher than 1:1 coped with stress better in a variety of ways, experiencing less depression, denial, guilt, and suicidal ideation. (But no significant benefits were observed for increasing the ratio beyond 3:1.)15 Civilians exposed to missile attacks who had a baseline positive emotion ratio of 2:1 or higher were less vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.16 Seniors who increased their positive emotion ratio over a two-year period subsequently experienced less negative stress and felt more in control over agingS W related problems. Seniors who had a high positive emotion ratio also suffered fewer declines in attention and memory(47)
when it comes to positive emotion, frequency is more important than intensity (48)
high vagal tone improves attention in school, protects children from parental conflict, and reduces the amount of the inflammation-related stress hormone cortisol they produce during stressful challenges(49)
Surprisingly, it’s not the type or severity of back injury, or the degree of pain initially experienced, that best predicts who will recover and who will continue to suffer. Instead, it’s the psychological flexibility of the patients at the time of their injury… It turns out that a fear of pain, discomfort, or failure can cause people who are ill or injured to enter a downward spiral of withdrawal from ordinary activity. In an effort to avoid triggering pain or experiencing failure, they severely limit the actions they take—avoiding physical activity, travel, or work, for example (50)
Research shows that dream sharing and discussion boost trust and increase intimacy between two people. The stranger or more intense your dream, the bigger the benefit (51)
According to scientific studies, believing in a lucky object increases self-efficacy, the feeling “I can do this” (see Chapter 3). Self-efficacy is a powerful state of mind that actually improves your odds of success. When you have more of it, you set higher goals for yourself and persevere longer when things get difficult. So don’t be afraid of a little magical thinking (52)
committed action—taking small steps each day in accordance with your goals and values, even when it is difficult for you… every time you successfully take committed action, you increase your hope, optimism, and self-efficacy (53)
after selecting their own three-month goals, individuals were significantly more likely to achieve them if they first made a list of their character strengths, then purposefully applied them to the challenge.2 In fact, not only did they achieve more, they were also happier and more satisfied with their lives at each checkin over the course of the three-month-long study. (54)
focusing on your strengths can help you cope more effectively with any illness, injury, or disability—from arthritis, cancer, chronic pain, and infertility to substance abuse, eating disorders, and PTSD. (55)
Studies have found that the more we think about and use our strengths during treatment or recovery, the more social, productive, and satisfied with our lives we are, even while experiencing significant health challenges.(56)
People who practice self-distancing experience less anxiety and distress when they recall painful memories or traumatic experiences… Self-distancing enhances willpower.9 If you face a temptation, you’ll be better able to exert self-control if you take a moment to think about the situation from a third-person point of view.Self-distancing has another benefit in the present: it leads to greater engagement in constructive problem solving—which means getting less wrapped up in thoughts and being better able to focus on taking helpful action (57)
Research shows that choosing your own goals leads to better health and happiness, faster. In fact, every time you achieve a goal of your own choosing, you improve your odds of achieving the next goal. (58)
Exercise changes your perception of pain, making you tougher and less sensitive to painful stimuli. (Scientists say this is because exercise puts physical, often painful, stress on your body; the more you exercise, the more “normal” your brain interprets pain signals, and therefore it pays less attention to them.) (59)
It’s called active constructive responding… It involves celebrating someone else’s success or good news with genuine enthusiasm and interest. Instead of offering a passive “congratulations” or “way to go” (or worse, actively sabotaging their celebration with a negative reaction!), you actively engage them in a positive conversation about the good news… nothing contributes more to the long-term strength and success of relationships than whether its participants do ACR. Couples who do it stay married longer. (And new couples who do it fall in love faster.) Coworkers who do it are happier and more collaborative at work. Family members who do it report feeling closer to each other and experience less anxiety and depression. People who develop this skill and practice it regularly have more and stronger friendships (60)
People who are time rich are happier, healthier, and more productive. They experience less chronic stress, and they dedicate more time each day to pursuing their personal goals and dreams. They have closer relationships. They volunteer and help others more. They make smarter choices about what to eat, how much to exercise, and how long to sleep (61)
these psychological techniques successfully increased both feelings of power and time affluence. And there was a direct relationship between the two. The bigger the increase in perceived power, the more time participants said they had to pursue their own goals.6 Why did it work? The researchers theorized that feeling powerful increases our sense of control over all aspects of our lives (62)
They found that spending as little as ten minutes helping someone else—for example, proofreading someone’s essay or writing a supportive letter to a child in a hospital—increased time affluence significantly. In fact, giving time away made the study participants feel more time rich than participants who actually, objectively, got time richer—that is, participants who received a “time windfall,” or an hour of unexpected free time to do whatever they wanted. The researchers argued that this surprising effect stems from the fact that helping others makes us feel powerful (63)
They discovered that participants who felt awe for just a moment or two (triggered by watching a video of a natural wonder, for example) felt they had more time available later in the day for their own goals, were less impatient, and were also more willing to volunteer time to help others. All three changes are signs of increased time affluence (64)
“Subjects who were instructed to take long and slow breaths for five minutes,” they wrote, “not only felt there was more time available to get things done, but also perceived their day to be longer.”15 People who took shorter, quicker breaths, on the other hand, were much more likely to feel time poor (65)
people who drive are significantly time poorer than people who walk, bicycle, or take public transportation. Crucially, this is true even when drivers spend less time commuting each day than someone who walks, bikes, or takes public transportation. Driving itself, and not the time spent doing it, seems to create feelings of time poverty.16 Why is this the case? UNC’s study of nearly one thousand commuters showed that driving was the most stressful mode of travel. Driving, particularly during heavy rush-hour traffic, also provokes negative emotions such as frustration, anxiety, and anger. Increased stress and negative emotio (66)

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