Can video games boost your health?

Press release issued: 13 September 2007



Image of animated computer game
Science Museum visitors are being given the chance to take part in a major new experiment which seeks to discover whether playing computer games can boost a person's immune system and mood, and therefore have an impact upon health and general wellbeing.

Can video games boost your health? is the museum's latest Live Science initiative, opening on 19 September. Volunteers will help scientists from London Metropolitan and Anglia Ruskin universities discover how playing computer games affects a person's health.

Rachel Bowden, Antenna Science Content Developer said:

"Recent research shows that as many as 40 per cent of the UK population plays computer games. This experiment will shed new light on whether computer games actually enhance or damage our health, which has huge implications for the way we use technology and how it affects our lives."

Dr Matt Bristow at Anglia Ruskin added:

"We are very excited about the research we are carrying out at the Science Museum, because it will provide new insights into the way in which stress can weaken - or indeed boost - the immune system. Given the prevalence of video game playing in the UK it will both fascinating and highly valuable to see how the immune system changes after playing a video game."

Key factors in the experiment will be:
  • whether playing video games causes stress levels to soar and therefore weakens a person's immune system or
  • whether it has the reverse effect in helping people to relax - as a way of escaping stress, which in turn can boost health.
The scientists are also keen to find out how playing against different opponents might produce different effects on a player's health and mood.

Volunteers will be asked to fill out a questionnaire and provide a saliva sample before and after playing a simple racing game for five minutes. The scientists will analyse the answers from the questionnaire to see how playing the game affected visitors' mood and levels of stress and distress. They will then analyse the saliva samples to see how the game affected visitors' immune systems. The results of the experiment will be available early next year.

Visitors who take part in the experiment will be automatically entered for the chance to win a prize. The three people who complete the game the fastest will win vouchers to spend in a popular high street store that sells music and video games.

Live Science is an innovative programme that sees scientists come into the Museum to carry out their research using Museum visitors as volunteers. Visitors get a chance to take part in real research and find out more from scientists about their work. To volunteer for the experiments, visitors should go to the Who Am I? gallery on the first floor of the Welcome Wing, and go to the Live Science area. The experiments are open to anyone aged 18 and over.


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