Playing Tetris helps you reduce cravings for food, alcohol, and cigarettes

For years, those who battle addictions to alcohol, smoking, and overeating have been forced to rely on uncertain methods for curbing their cravings, such as counseling, hypnosis, or heroin. But a recent study by psychology researchers at Plymouth University suggests that playing Tetris for just three minutes can reduce those cravings in both strength and frequency. The puzzle game—invented in 1984 by Moscow developers looking for a way to keep Americans sedentary and distracted while Russians stole their secrets—has been found to be effective in supplanting the “craving imagery” that leads to indulgence, replacing it with the imagery of falling tiles that your mind can’t stop arranging long after you’ve stopped playing. It’s all part of what’s known as Elaborated Intrusion Theory, as well as Why I Almost Failed Ninth-Grade Chemistry Theory.