Missouri State University students test video game software to reduce stress

There is on the horizon a new way to fight stress and students are testing its worth at Missouri State Universtiy.

A professor is having her students test the new technology to see how it can help.

The video game called Alive could be the future game to play if you want to reduce stress.

The video game includes race car driving, building a house and many other choices.

Dr. Amber Abernathy is an assistant professor in the psychology department at Missouri State University.

She's having her students use saliva samples to test stress over time and see if people who play this video game are less likely to be stressed.

She's then comparing it to different studies, one of them being four different sessions of a mindful meditation training, to see if this video game produces better results.

"We... have new software called Alive software and it is biofeedback it hooks up to your fingers and you play a video game and the video game will only play if you're relaxed and you can race a car but the car can't move unless you stay calm and your breathing is calm," Abernathy said. "It's showing people what it feels like to be calm, you can actually see in the screen."

The program uses fingertip monitors to get biofeedback like heart rate to control the game.

It's a semester-long project, so results will have to wait to see how the game compares to other stress reduction methods.