I’m a gamer, I like to have goals. I like special missions and secret objectives. So here’s my mission for this talk: I’m going to try to increase the life span of single person in this room by seven and a half minutes. Literally, you will seven and a half minutes longer than you would otherwise, just because you watched this talk.
Some of you looking a little bit skeptical. That’s okay, because check it out — I math to prove that it is possible. It won’t make much now. I’ll explain it all later, just pay attention to the number at the bottom: +7.68245837 minutes. will be my gift to you if I’m successful in mission.
Now, you have a secret mission too. Your mission to figure out how you want to spend your extra seven and a half minutes. I think you should do something unusual with them, because these are bonus minutes. You weren’t to have them anyway.
Now, because I’m a game designer, might be thinking to yourself, I know what she wants to do with those minutes, she wants us to spend them playing games. Now is a totally reasonable assumption, given that I have made quite a habit of people to spend more time playing games. For example, in first TED Talk, I did propose that we should spend 21 hours a week, as a planet, playing video games.
Now, 21 billion hours, it’s a lot of time. It’s much time, in fact, that the number one unsolicited comment that have heard from people all over the world since gave that talk, is this: Jane, games are great and all, but on your deathbed, you really going to wish you spent more time playing Angry Birds?
(Laughter)
This idea is pervasive — that games are a waste of time that we will come to regret — I hear it literally everywhere I go. For example, story: Just a few weeks ago, this cab driver, upon out that a friend and I were in town for a game developers’ conference, turned around and — and I quote — “I hate games. Waste life. Imagine getting to the end of your life regretting all that time.”
Now, I want to take this problem seriously. I want to be a force for good in the world. I don’t want gamers to regret the time spent playing, time that I encouraged them to spend. So have been thinking about this question a lot lately. When we’re on our deathbeds, will we the time we spent playing games?
Now, this may surprise you, but it out there is actually some scientific research on this question. It’s true. workers, the people who take care of us at the end of our lives, recently issued a on the most frequently expressed regrets that people say when are literally on their deathbeds. And that’s what I to share with you today — the top five regrets of dying.
Number one: I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. two: I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. three: I wish I had let myself be happier. four: I wish I’d had the courage to express true self. And number five: I wish I’d lived a life to my dreams, instead of what others expected of me.
Now, as far as I know, no one ever one of the hospice workers, “I wish I’d spent time playing video games,” but when I hear these five regrets of the dying, I can’t help but hear deep human cravings that games actually help us fulfill.
For example, wish I hadn’t worked so hard. For many people, means, I wish I’d spent more time with my family, with my kids when they were up. Well, we know that playing games together has tremendous family benefits. A study from Brigham Young University School of Family Life reported that parents spend more time playing video games with their kids have much stronger real-life with them.
“I wish I’d stayed in touch with my friends.” of millions of people use social games like FarmVille or Words Friends to stay in daily contact with real-life friends family. A recent study from the University of Michigan showed that these are incredibly powerful relationship-management tools. They help us stay connected people in our social network that we would otherwise distant from, if we weren’t playing games together.
“I wish I’d let be happier.” Well, here I can’t help but think of the groundbreaking clinical trials recently conducted East Carolina University that showed that online games can outperform for treating clinical anxiety and depression. Just 30 minutes of game play a day was enough to create dramatic boosts mood and long-term increases in happiness.
“I wish I’d had the courage express my true self.” Well, avatars are a way to our true selves, our most heroic, idealized version of we might become. You can see that in this alter ego portrait by Robbie of a gamer with his avatar. And Stanford University has been doing research for five now to document how playing a game with an avatar changes how we think and act in real life, us more courageous, more ambitious, more committed to our goals.
“I I’d led a life true to my dreams, and not what expected of me.” Are games doing this yet? I’m not sure, so I’ve left a Mario question mark. We’re going to come back to one.
But in the meantime, perhaps you’re wondering, who is game designer to be talking to us about deathbed regrets? And it’s true, I’ve never worked a hospice, I’ve never been on my deathbed. But recently did spend three months in bed, wanting to die. wanting to die.
Now let me tell you that story. started two years ago, when I hit my head and got a concussion. The didn’t heal properly, and after 30 days, I was left with like nonstop headaches, nausea, vertigo, memory loss, mental fog. doctor told me that in order to heal my brain, I had to rest it. I had to avoid everything that triggered my symptoms. For that meant no reading, no writing, no video games, no work or email, no running, no alcohol, caffeine. In other words — and I think you see this is going — no reason to live.
(Laughter)
Of course it’s meant to be funny, but all seriousness, suicidal ideation is quite common with traumatic brain injuries. It to one in three, and it happened to me. brain started telling me, “Jane, you want to die.” It said, “You’re going to get better.” It said, “The pain will never end.”
And these voices became so and so persuasive that I started to legitimately fear for my life, which is the time that said to myself after 34 days — and I will never forget moment — I said, “I am either going to kill myself or I’m going to turn this a game.”
Now, why a game? I knew from researching the psychology of games for more than decade that when we play a game — and this is in scientific literature — we tackle tough challenges with more creativity, more determination, optimism, and we’re more likely to reach out to others for help. I wanted to these gamer traits to my real-life challenge, so I a role-playing recovery game called Jane the Concussion Slayer.
Now this my new secret identity, and the first thing I did as a slayer was call my sister — I have an identical twin sister named — and tell her, “I’m playing a game to my brain, and I want you to play with me.” was an easier way to ask for help.
She became my first in the game, my husband Kiyash joined next, and together identified and battled the bad guys. Now this was anything that could trigger my symptoms and therefore down the healing process, things like bright lights and crowded spaces. We also collected activated power-ups. This was anything I could do on even my day to feel just a little bit good, just a little bit productive. Things like my dog for 10 minutes, or getting out of bed and around the block just once.
Now the game was that simple: a secret identity, recruit your allies, battle the bad guys, the power-ups. But even with a game so simple, within just couple days of starting to play, that fog of and anxiety went away. It just vanished. It felt like miracle. Now it wasn’t a miracle cure for the headaches or cognitive symptoms. That lasted for more than a year, and it was the hardest of my life by far. But even when I still had symptoms, even while I was still in pain, I suffering.
Now what happened next with the game surprised me. put up some blog posts and videos online, explaining to play. But not everybody has a concussion, obviously, not wants to be “the slayer,” so I renamed the game SuperBetter.
And soon, I started hearing from people over the world who were adopting their own secret identity, their own allies, and they were getting “super better,” challenges like cancer and chronic pain, depression and Crohn’s disease. Even people were it for terminal diagnoses like ALS. And I could from their messages and their videos that the game was helping in the same ways that it helped me. They about feeling stronger and braver. They talked about feeling better by their friends and family. And they even talked about happier, even though they were in pain, even though they were tackling the toughest of their lives.
Now at the time, I’m thinking to myself, what is going on here? mean, how could a game so trivial intervene so powerfully in such serious, and some cases life-and-death, circumstances? I mean, if it hadn’t worked for me, there’s way I would have believed it was possible. Well, turns out there’s some science here, too. Some people get stronger happier after a traumatic event. And that’s what was happening to us.
The game was helping experience what scientists call post-traumatic growth, which is not something we usually about. We usually hear about post-traumatic stress disorder. But now know that a traumatic event doesn’t doom us suffer indefinitely. Instead, we can use it as a springboard to our best qualities and lead happier lives.
Here are top five things that people with post-traumatic growth say: “My have changed.” “I’m not afraid to do what makes me happy.” “I feel closer to my and family.” “I understand myself better. I know who I really am now.” “I have a new of meaning and purpose in my life.” “I’m better able to focus on goals and dreams.”
Now, does this sound familiar? It should, because the top five of post-traumatic growth are essentially the direct opposite of the top regrets of the dying. Now this is interesting, right? It that somehow, a traumatic event can unlock our ability to lead a with fewer regrets.
But how does it work? How do you get from trauma growth? Or better yet, is there a way to all the benefits of post-traumatic growth without the trauma, without to hit your head in the first place? That be good, right?
I wanted to understand the phenomenon better, so I devoured the scientific literature, and here’s I learned. There are four kinds of strength, or resilience, contribute to post-traumatic growth, and there are scientifically validated activities that you do every day to build up these four kinds of resilience, and you don’t a trauma to do it.
I could tell you what these four types of strength are, but I’d you experience them firsthand. I’d rather we all start building them up right now. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll play a quick game together. This where you earn the seven and a half minutes of bonus life that I you earlier. All you have to do is successfully complete the four SuperBetter quests. And I feel like you can do it. I have in you.
So, everybody ready? This is your first quest. Here go. Pick one: Stand up and take three steps, or make your into fists, raise them over your head as high you can for five seconds, go! All right, I the people doing both. You are overachievers. Very good.
(Laughter)
Well done, everyone. That worth +1 physical resilience, which means that your body can withstand more stress and itself faster. We know from the research that the number one thing can do to boost your physical resilience is to not sit still. That’s it takes. Every single second that you are not sitting still, are actively improving the health of your heart, and lungs and brains.
Everybody ready for your next quest? I you to snap your fingers exactly 50 times, or count backwards 100 by seven, like this: 100, 93… Go!
(Snapping)
Don’t up.
(Snapping)
Don’t let the people counting down from 100 with your counting to 50.
(Snapping)
(Laughter)
Nice. Wow. That’s the first I’ve ever seen that. Bonus physical resilience. Well done, everyone. Now that’s +1 mental resilience, which means you have more mental focus, more discipline, determination and willpower. We from the scientific research that willpower actually works like a muscle. It stronger the more you exercise it. So tackling a tiny challenge without giving up, one as absurd as snapping your fingers exactly 50 or counting backwards from 100 by seven is actually a scientifically way to boost your willpower.
So good job. Quest number three. Pick one: Because of the room, fate’s determined this for you, but here are the two options. If you’re inside, find a and look out of it. If you’re outside, find a window and in. Or do a quick YouTube or Google image search for “baby [your favorite animal.]”
Do on your phones, or just shout out some baby animals, I’ll put them on the screen. So, what do we to see? Sloth, giraffe, elephant, snake. Okay, let’s see what we got. dolphin and baby llamas. Everybody look. Got that? Okay, one more. Baby elephant.
(Audience) Oh!
We’re clapping that? That’s amazing.
(Laughter)
All right, what we’re just feeling there plus-one emotional resilience, which means you have the ability to powerful, positive emotions like curiosity or love, which we feel looking baby animals, when you need them most.
Here’s a secret from the scientific literature you. If you can manage to experience three positive emotions for one negative emotion over the course of an hour, a day, a week, you dramatically improve your and your ability to successfully tackle any problem you’re facing. this is called the three-to-one positive emotion ratio. It’s favorite SuperBetter trick, so keep it up.
All right, pick one, last quest: Shake someone’s hand for seconds, or send someone a quick thank you by text, email, Facebook Twitter. Go!
(Chatting)
Looking good, looking good. Nice, nice. Keep it up. I love it! All right, everybody, is +1 social resilience, which means you actually get more from your friends, your neighbors, your family, your community. Now, great way to boost social resilience is gratitude. Touch even better.
Here’s one more secret for you: Shaking someone’s hand for six seconds dramatically the level of oxytocin in your bloodstream, now that’s trust hormone. That means that all of you who just shook hands are biochemically to like and want to help each other. This will linger the break, so take advantage of the networking opportunities.
(Laughter)
Well, you successfully completed your four quests, let’s see if I’ve successfully completed mission to give you seven and a half minutes of bonus life. Now I get share one more little bit of science with you. It turns out that who regularly boost these four types of resilience — physical, mental, emotional social — live 10 years longer than everyone else. So this true. If you are regularly achieving the three-to-one positive emotion ratio, if you are sitting still for more than an hour at a time, if you are reaching to one person you care about every single day, if you are tackling tiny goals to your willpower, you will live 10 years longer than everyone else, and here’s that math I showed you earlier comes in.
So, the life expectancy in the U.S. and the U.K. is 78.1 years, but we know from more than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific that you can add 10 years of life by your four types of resilience. So every single year that you are boosting your types of resilience, you’re actually earning .128 more years of life or 46 days of life, or 67,298 more minutes of life, which means single day, you are earning 184 minutes of life, or single hour that you are boosting your four types resilience, like we just did together, you are earning 7.68245837 more minutes of life.
Congratulations, those and a half minutes are all yours. You totally them.
Yeah!
(Applause)
Awesome. Wait, wait, wait. You still your special mission, your secret mission. How are you going spend these minutes of bonus life?
Well, here’s my suggestion. These seven and half bonus minutes are kind of like genie’s wishes. You can use your wish to wish for a million more wishes. Pretty clever, right? So, you spend these seven and a half minutes today doing something that you happy, or that gets you physically active, or puts you touch with someone you care about, or even just a tiny challenge, you’re going to boost your resilience, so you’re to earn more minutes.
And the good news is, you can keep going like that. Every hour the day, every day of your life, all the way to deathbed, which will now be 10 years later than would have otherwise. And when you get there, more than likely, you will have any of those top five regrets, because you will have built up strength and resilience to lead a life truer to dreams. And with 10 extra years, you might even have time to play a few more games.
Thank you.
(Applause)