Four years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially recognized video game disorder as a disease. If a controlled practice of gaming does not pose any problem but on the contrary benefits the players, this can sometimes generate an addiction which in turn becomes problematic.
The American journal Psychology of Popular Media recently published the results of a study conducted by three researchers. They identified three negative effects felt by players who are too addicted to gaming.
Video games and sleep
According to the results of the study, players who play excessive video games have poorer quality sleep. To explain this result, the authors cite in particular excessive exposure to blue light from screens, additional excitement linked to games, or delays in sleep time to prolong the game. This is very negative because the quality of sleep is important to ensure that you stay healthy in the long term.
Gaming and food
People who are too addicted to video games have bad eating habits according to the results of this study. Several factors explain this observation and in particular an unfortunate tendency to snack on products that are too fatty, salty or sweet outside of meals.
Similarly, some players may deliberately skip meals to continue their sessions and generally spend too little time preparing their meals. This is another concern and we know that having a balanced diet is one of the conditions for good health.
Video games and hygiene
This is undoubtedly the most surprising finding of this research. Scientists have spotted that gamers addicted to video games tend to neglect their hygiene. Once again, spending too much time behind a screen can lead to neglecting certain essential activities, and that is what we observe here.
If you are interested in this subject, you can always read our article where we came back to the risks of video games in terms of health. It appears in particular that gamers who spend too much time on this hobby expose themselves to muscle and joint pain. Eventually, this can degenerate and lead to cases of contractures or carpal tunnel syndrome.
Scientists also point to eye problems due to excessive exposure to screens: dry eyes, headaches and blurred vision which can in some cases cause extreme fatigue.