Are you looking for a fun way to reduce stress in your life? Try playing games!

Stress relief games are specially designed to provide that pleasurable escape which helps deal with stress. Playing games for the relief of stress does not have much research supporting it, but many people have seen that games help to reduce stress. It is also known that "brain teasers" and problem-solving games can improve memory and brain function in older people, even those with dementia.

There are many types of stress relief games, depending upon the taste and age of the person. They range from small games, activities, and exercises to challenging and "mind bending" games. Games are very similar in their approach to meditation or any other relaxation or stress relief method.

Stress relief games are divided into two categories – outdoors games and indoors games.

Outdoors games include tennis, football and many other physically demanding games. As an adult, physical games can offer the health and stress management benefits of exercise, and the group involvement can ensure that you’ll keep at it.

Indoors games can be Chess, Rubik’s Cube, darts, crossword puzzles, computer games, mobile phone games and many others. Mental stimulation distracts your thoughts from the stressful situations that you are dealing with, while at the same time it trains your brain to sharpen your problem solving skills.

The most widely popular indoors games are computer games, which can be online stress relief games (that you play in a web browser) and stress relief desktop games (that you download from the internet and play offline).

Puzzle-based games like Tetris (a long-time favorite of mine) or Bejeweled are good choices for a quick stress break. Other favorite choices are crossword puzzles, logic games and Sudoku.

But what about people who play stress relief games at work?

Studies show that happier workers also do better work (and more of it), so playing stress relief games would seem like the ultimate stress relief tool in your arsenal.

For everyone from deskbound office workers to managers in meetings, stress relief games prove to be a work productivity enhancer, especially if the stress is being caused by a difficult project. Winning a few games helps restore your confidence and puts you in a better frame of mind to tackle that project.

The best way to relieve stress is to play those stress relief games which are easy to win. These games can boost your self-esteem and improve your self-confidence. They make you feel successful and provide the feeling of relaxation – similar to squeezing stress relief balls.

Stress relief desktop games can take your troubles off your mind and keep your stress at bay for an hour or two a day! However, you have to be aware that some games are quite addictive, and you should avoid those if you don’t have too much free time.

You will find tons of free online games, which you can play right in your browser. All online games are FREE and you can play them online, so you never need to install any program on your personal computer at home or at work.

Just five to ten minutes playing games can be enough to reboot your mind and leave you calm, refreshed, and ready to get back to the task at hand.