Let’s be honest: we all love gaming, and we all spend way too much time doing it. It’s never just “one more round”, despite our best efforts of convincing everyone that it is. Needless to say, spending such huge amounts of time playing video games can have quite a detrimental effect on your body. Let’s see what all that gaming is doing to your health!
Increased Risk of Obesity
I mean, this one’s pretty obvious: if you spend a lot of time sitting down, you’re not going to get any thinner. While this counts for playing video games, this counts for pretty much every hobby you do sitting down.
It Is An Addiction
Yes, I know, it’s not exactly the new heroin and I’m pretty sure we won’t be seeing video games being sold on the black market any time soon (at least not for drug-related reasons), but video games can really have an addictive effect and make you disregard more important parts of your life just to beat Dark Souls. And we all know that’s never happening.
Eye Problems
Much to everyone’s surprise, looking at a computer screen for hours on end can damage your eyesight. Somehow this is all video gaming’s fault, and not the fact that most jobs these days require you to spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer. Na-ah, it’s the gaming you do after work that’s screwing with your eyes.
Lower Back Problems
I cannot stress this enough, but if you’re going to be gaming for prolonged periods of time, get a proper ergonomic chair! It’s all fun and games now, but decades of gaming can screw up your lower back and spinal canal like it’s nobody’s business.
Nintendonitis
Nintendonitis is the name we give to the strain injuries people can get from using a controller for too long. Since a controller is mainly high repetition of 5-6 different movements, this can put a huge strain on your thumbs, fingers, elbows and wrists depending on your playstyle.
Risk of Thrombosis
Look, it’s all fun and games until someone dies and taking frequent gaming sessions that last for way too long can make your blood start to clot because of all the sitting down. At this point, you are literally risking your life by playing video games and the blood clots can – and will – kill you over time. This is the same thing that happens to people that frequently do long flights, by the way. Get up every once in a while, and go for a short walk: grab a drink, take a toilet break, get some food…
Exhaustion
Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone to sleep much later than you intended because you spent most of the night gaming. Exhaustion can have some of the worst long-term effects on your body, so make sure to not make this a daily habit. Depriving yourself of sleep can lead to all kinds of nasty things that no gaming experience will make up for.
