Funny Stress Relief Games

Video Games

• According to a 2008 study by East Carolina University and PopCap Games, playing video games can improve a person's mood and reduce symptoms of stress. If you don't own a video game console, you can find a number of funny, stress relieving video games for free on the internet. Try God's Playing Field (see the Resources section) where you have the power to smash things on Earth with God's giant fist. Enjoy Stress Relief Paintball from Stress Relief Games and shoot at happy face balls with your paintball gun. Stress Relief Games features a game called Punch 'Em, with two funny-looking characters you can name. Label the blue character as your boss, mother-in-law or other person in your life who's contributing to your high stress levels.

Group Games

• If you have time to let off some steam with family and friends, group board games can result in a lot of laughs and reduce stress. Cranium is a board game that challenges players to sketch, hum, sculpt, act and more. Teams score points by successfully meeting the challenge on the game card they choose. You may have to mold something out of clay skillfully enough that your team can guess the phrase, or you might have to spell "asphalt" backwards. Either way, you'll be so focused on the game that you'll forget your stress. Other popular group stress busters include Taboo, where players help teammates guess a secret word, and Pictionary. If money is short, you can make a homemade version of Pictionary, as described on Group-Games.com. Charades is another inexpensive way to bring people together for an evening of competition and laughter, and you don't need special materials to play.

Solitary Games

• If you don't have time to play games with other people and video games aren't your thing, try playing independent games with yourself. Take a few minutes at your desk and challenge yourself to imagine your boss (or teacher, parent, etc.) in the most ridiculous outfit possible. Make your ideas progressively more ludicrous until you manage to get a smile out of yourself. Invest in small toys for your desk. Overcome Bullying recommends Silly Putty, squeeze toys with faces (such as the "Popping Martian") and stretch toys. Use the putty to build funny replicas of your boss, and squash them down. Challenge yourself to see how many times you can get your favorite stress toy into your recycling bin in one minute. Give him a squeeze before each throw.