Online Poker Shown to Reduce Stress

Forget massages, soaking in a hot tub and winding down with a glass of Scotch… if you really want to reduce your stress levels, play more online poker. A recent study by Canadian scientists showed that playing a few hands of Hold ‘Em a day can dramatically decrease the overall stress levels of those who play.

For anyone who’s ever gone on tilt (and we’ve all gone on tilt) or felt that bracing jolt of adrenaline when they flop a monster hand, this may all come as a bit of a surprise. Could grinding it out for three hours at the $2/$4 PLO tables really have the same affect on your brain as sipping a margarita pool-side in Cabo?

It all comes down to cortisol. That’s a hormone that sloshes around in your brain causing stress and anxiety. The less of it you have, the more you’re feeling like a Jimmy Buffet song. One of the best ways to reduce cortisol is by daily meditation. And another great way, as we now know, is by playing online poker. The study shows that cortisol levels in online poker players can be up to 17% lower than in non-players.

So why does it work? Well, nobody quite knows. But that’s okay, we still don’t know exactly why meditation works either. But the best guess is that someone who’s utterly focused on the intracies of a poker game isn’t worrying about anything else. All the everday worries and stresses are replaced in the brain, at least temporarily, with what’s really important… figuring out how to stop that guy in the next chair from stealing all the blinds.