Online Poker Beats Stress
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
A Canadian study has revealed that playing online poker can have a stress reducing effect. Players engaged in a game can experience a drop in cortisol (a stress hormone) of up to 17%. I've read that cortisol causes nasty things like increases in blood pressure, but I'm no doctor, so I'll just mention that the report says a reduction is a good thing.
The report has hypothesized that the complexity of poker causes people to focus on it entirely, rather than worry about other stressful things. This leads to an overall calming effect, something that I have to say surprises me. I can't imagine that players are more relaxed than normal after experiencing a particularly bad beat!
I won't try to argue with research based on my own limited experience, though. News of a positive mental effect is great, as poker players will have experienced the benefits already, but have never been able to fully explain before why poker seems to leave them feeling so much better considering they are constantly putting cash on the line.
If the effect really is due to concentration on the game, it seems like online poker is a bit like meditation. Of course, I've never seen someone win thousands of dollars while meditating. I have seen people winning thousands at Full Tilt Poker, though - kind of frequently, actually, especially around about the time MiniFTOPS is happening.
What do you think? Have you felt less stressed while playing poker online? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments... unless you are too busy 'meditating' on how to play a monster pot.
-Shad
Posted at 2:12 AM Permalink | Talk on the Poker Forum
3 Comments:
Iam not sure it reduces stress levels as my stress level gets increased by the number of really bad beats on most poker sites.
It seems to me that Tournament poker online has a problem in that there are a lot of entrants to each tournament and a limited time that the poker sites want to run each tournament.
Therefore the number of bad beats increases if you are on low stacks in a tournament.
Tony
By
Anthony, at 5:27 PM
for me, i guess that study is right. :) People need an outlet to release their stress or tension at work or at home. Playing poker online poker.williamhill helps me relax! :)
By
Danna, at 8:28 PM
This post has been removed by the author.
By
bob, at 11:20 PM
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