Poker is Good for your health...I knew it :D

[striiing]

yeah but the 6 donuts i eat each session cant be great for me

[S0u1j4h]

Originally Posted by usernameslol

This video explains loss aversion pretty well:

http://<font color="Blue">http://www...Hn-bw1k</font>

Poker is good for my life ie. "healthy" because in trying to learn more about becoming a better poker player I also learn how to function better day to day.

For example handeling stress, learning how to not tilt in poker, provides me with the skills i need to not strees the **** out at work when im having a rough day.

The video in the quote above led me to this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7U8m...eature=related

which is bloody hilarious and also applies pretty much directly to me and my wife a lot. She watched the vid with me and we laughed about it. But the point is it helped us both understand a bit why we argue. Which, Incedentally, is happenening a lot less since we went to counselling about 4 months back. Something I refused to do for far too long. And might never have done had I not read an article in a poker mag about going to a psychologist to help to understand yourself and your mind better in order to play poker better.

Im not playing for a living but it does cause me stress. my poker roll is not replaceable at all atm so if i lose it i lose my hobby for a while. I play a lot, probably an average of 6 days a week, I dont really keep track of hours but its at least 2-3 mon-fri and I regularly do 20+ on the weekends at least I think its a lot for a recreational player, maybe its not.

[couchpotato0]

Originally Posted by jcarabel03

Creates addiction for most imo

not addicted to poker...Addicted to the COMPETITION aspect. It replaxes hockey, football, and baseball as i get to old and fragile to play those anymore. I play 20hrs a week and never deposit more than $50 a month. May sound like a lot to some, but its my hobby. Cheaper than golf, skiing, even a night @ the movies...lol, and it gives many more hours of fun, than they do. Last, but not least, its fun to learn more strategies and stuff thru videos and forums. It's fun to learn when you enjoy something. I think addiction happens to people with certain predispositions, someone addicted to poker, could easily have chosen cigs, alcohol, casinos, fat or anything else to be addicted to, it just happens to be poker. Drives me nuts when idiots BLAME poker for their 'addiction'... went off the rails a bit here , but the post annoyed me.

[3pidemic]

Originally Posted by S0u1j4h

Poker is good for my life ie. "healthy" because in trying to learn more about becoming a better poker player I also learn how to function better day to day.

For example handeling stress, learning how to not tilt in poker, provides me with the skills i need to not strees the **** out at work when im having a rough day.
.

very true, Ive noticed a huge relation between poker, business, relationships and life in general.
things you learn in one can be transfered to another with great results.
smoking pot lead me to this and my life is better as a result.

[BonzoCuellar]

Originally Posted by striiing

yeah but the 6 donuts i eat each session cant be great for me

qft... i'm a less tilty person but i'm fatter for sure.

[3pidemic]

Originally Posted by BonzoCuellar

qft... i'm a less tilty person but i'm fatter for sure.

This.

[kakaan]

Well, it's not really good, because im loosing my mind when i play poker. So, when im on poker i dont think on nothing else except poker.. Huh, kinda weird.

[Sdgullsfan84]

The reasoning behind this, Canadian scientists believe, is that the intense focus given during the poker game allows the players to forget or move their focus away from their daily responsibilities and worries. The intense focus is required because poker is such a complex game and players naturally get drawn in when playing. By taking a break from constantly thinking and worrying about daily responsibilities, the brain starts releasing less and less cortisol.

Couldn't you transpose this bizarre line of thinking onto every vice? Video game playing, doing cocaine, playing beer pong...anything?

[RyanTepen]

I think poker is really good for the mind, but not so much for the body.

[Poker Clif]

Originally Posted by RyanTepen

I think poker is really good for the mind, but not so much for the body.

Yes, but that's true for any sedentary job. I never weighed more than 139 pounds (at 5 foot 10) until I turned 30. At that time:

1. My National Guard job switched from infantry to musician.

2. My full-time job switched from laborer to pizza delivery (driving all night, with all the free pizza I could eat.)

3. I was going to college part-time.

4. I decided that I didn't have time to keep running.

Every part of my life was more sedentary, and when I stopped working out, I eventually worked my way up from 139 pounds to 193, and my resting pulse went from 64 to around 90. Now I"m a poker player, also a sedentary job, but my weight is down to 183, my pulse is in the low 80s, and I know that if I keep at it (I like running, I even did a marathon, I just stopped making the time for it) I'll drop at least 30 more pounds without any problem at all.

It doesn't matter if you're a cubicle rat or a poker player or a student. If your job is sedentary, you'll have to fit some exercise in their someplace if you want to stay in shape. Poker does not make you fat, or weak, or lazy. Life choices do that.

[shtadlan]

i just bought my fifth mouse :-))

[J ACE$]

Originally Posted by BadAtMeth

Okay. This is one of two things:

1) A fictional study invented by affiliates who want to help problem gamblers justify losing more money. Or,

2) A study (or a mashup of many studies) taken way out of context.

If 1, then wow -- disgusting.

If 2, then wow -- irresponsible. I found research out of McGill claiming that gambling functions as a maladaptive coping mechanism for anxious, stressed, or depressed people. This works towards explaining gambling addiction and pathological gambling. What it does not do is suggest that online gaming is 'healthy' for you. It may 'reduce stress' in the extreme short term, yes; but that does not mean it is beneficial long-term or healthy for you.

And the only cortisol/gaming link I could find out of McGill was this write-up of a study. The experimenters designed a happy-face clicking game and measured cortisol levels of participants while playing.



Maybe somebody can google better than I can and find this study. I would love to be wrong on this one.

well your a buzz kill

[pinishe45]

Originally Posted by RyanTepen

I think poker is really good for the mind, but not so much for the body.

probably

[bigphatmike]

Originally Posted by Duces

Recent research at a Canadian University indicates that poker is good for releasing stress. This result has come as a surprise to many who view poker as a high stress and high risk game.

The cortisol levels of online poker players was monitored as they played online poker and it was found that their cortisol, otherwise known as “the stress hormone”, levels dropped significantly as they played. The levels continued to drop, by up to 17%, as the players progressed and became increasingly engaged in the game.

The reasoning behind this, Canadian scientists believe, is that the intense focus given during the poker game allows the players to forget or move their focus away from their daily responsibilities and worries. The intense focus is required because poker is such a complex game and players naturally get drawn in when playing. By taking a break from constantly thinking and worrying about daily responsibilities, the brain starts releasing less and less cortisol.

Prior to this research, it was also found by scientists that online gambling also improves the cognitive functioning of the brain. This applies to poker especially because of the never ending variables in the game- players are constantly thinking and learning and adapting and this provides excellent exercise for the brain.

So by playing poker, players are reducing stress as well as exercising the brain. These findings might have an influence in the US where whether to legalize online poker is an ongoing debate.

LOL what about all the sitting and not moving for long periods of times. It really sucks for your bllodstream, and for me, my blood sugar level.
Also my calorie intake is too high and i gain a lot of weight since poker began in my life.

[Poker Clif]

Originally Posted by zackryan28

Did the study notice a disparity in stress levels between winning and losing sessions? I mean, if you are monitoring online professionals pwning donks at low/mid stakes, of course they're going to feel good. However, if you hooked up a bad player, or just a player getting sucked out on, I have reservations that stress cortisol levels would be going down.

A few months ago there was discussion of one of the 2+2 magazine articles. The author said that experienced players that understood the long-run, and the ups and downs of variance, are not affected by losing sessions in the same way that players without that perspective are affected.