What a Puzzle Escape Room Taught Me About Stress

Sometimes, instead of getting away from and forgetting your stresses altogether, it’s good to step into a “practice arena” so you can figure out how to handle the situation causing the tension. One place you can go to get a fresh perspective is a puzzle room, also known as an escape room. These rooms are a great place to learn how to manage stress, and they teach you ways to cope in real life scenarios.

Puzzle Rooms Set the Tone

Going into a puzzle room is a unique experience because they are specifically designed to put you into a stressful situation. Each room is a combination of common stressors, with the addition of behavioral triggers that can increase the tension. You’re working under the pressure of a timer, but you also have to navigate the pressure of working together with people you may not know. These considerations, of course, are in addition to the confusing puzzles and clues you need to figure out. 

What You’re Taught

With so many types of stressors stacked on top of you, there can be a lot to learn from this amount of pressure.

• Time Management: Because you have a timer to keep track of during your time in the room, it’s your responsibility to tackle time management skills. If you dwell on one puzzle or clue for too long, you’re wasting your own time and setting yourself up for failure. But if you put off solving something for too long, you lose any flexibility you could have left at the end of the timer.
• Communication: You’re thrown into a room with a group of people, and sometimes you don’t know everyone on your team. It’s up to you to overcome the awkwardness you may feel and focus on clear, concise, and necessary communication.
• Staying Calm: It’s easy to let everything overwhelm you and lose your head a bit both inside and outside the escape room, but this is an opportunity to practice control. In a puzzle room, you can learn to manage your reaction to stress because when you’re overcome by emotions, you can’t be efficient in handling the situation.

The science of escape rooms and what they can teach you based on their design is fascinating. If you want to learn more, check out this informative article.

How You Can Use It

No matter how old you are or where you are in life, it can be difficult to deal with stressful situations without feeling overwhelmed. But escape rooms can change that. If you’re a student, you can draw from the experience to utilize time management skills so you’re not overcome with frustration when homework and exams start piling on. As a parent or coach, you can learn effective communication and how to filter out unnecessary or unhelpful information so you can improve relationships with your kids or team. 

Book Your Puzzle Escape Room

A good quality escape room will work wonders for your stress management skills, and you’ll have fun doing it, too. If you’re ready to experience the benefits of a puzzle room for yourself, book with EscapeWorks Denver and learn how you can use one to your advantage!