I just started experiencing the symptoms of the cold I probably caught a few days ago: Sore throat, headache, coughing, etc. I passed the time last night playing Bully for PS2, and I seemed to be feeling fine. As soon as I stopped, all the symptoms hit me, and I felt terrible again. I suspected the game was acting as some sort of anesthetic, but not having a medical background, I didn't want to make any uninformed claims.

Coincidentally, this morning, an article appeared on Ars Technica discussing several research papers published on the anesthetic effects of video games.

The human brain goes to great lengths to avoid being distracted from the task it is focusing on. Some researchers in the medical community are trying to harness that distraction-suppressing capability. These doctors hope that by focusing a patient's mind on an immersive task, the brain will suppress distractions such as the pain, fear, and discomfort caused by medical procedures and recovery.

So yes, there is some scientific, medical basis to how I'm too sick to clean my room or perform other chores, and yet not too sick to play video games.