Video gaming has escalated into a dominant form of entertainment. But can excessive gaming causing health issues? A new study published in Computers in Human Behavior casts a spotlight on these potential consequences. The research finds that engaging in video gaming sessions exceeding three hours in a single stretch is associated with a range of physical problems. This findings emphasize the need for interventions promoting healthier gaming habits to mitigate these physical impacts.
The bulk of research on video gaming’s impact has been skewed towards its psychological and behavioral effects, often highlighting concerns related to addiction and mental health. The World Health Organization’s inclusion of “gaming disorder” in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) underscores the growing recognition of potential negative outcomes associated with excessive gaming.
But the potential physical repercussions of excessive gaming has been mostly overlooked. Prior investigations have hinted at the possible physical repercussions of excessive gaming, but these insights have often come from studies with narrow focuses — such as those limited to specific high-risk groups. Recognizing this gap, researchers set out to explore the physical consequences of gaming over prolonged periods.
“Our interest in video gaming began when the World Health Organization included Gaming Disorder in the International Classification of Diseases, a manual used by doctors internationally to diagnose health problems. We have a general interest in how addictions affect young people, so this piqued our interest and we developed this study,” explained study author Daniel Stjepanović, a senior research fellow at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use and the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland.
Conducted as part of the 2022 International Gaming Study, this multi-site cross-sectional survey included 955 participants from four countries: Australia, Canada, the USA, and the UK. The diverse cohort, comprising a balanced mix of genders and a wide age range (18-94 years), provided a rich dataset for analysis. Participants reported their gaming habits, alongside any physical symptoms experienced as a result.
The researchers employed the Internet Gaming Disorder Test-10 (IGDT-10) to assess potential gaming disorders among participants. In addition, inquiries into aspirations towards professional gaming offered insights into how serious engagement with gaming might correlate with physical health outcomes.
Most of the participants (80%) played games daily, with a significant portion engaging in prolonged sessions weekly or daily. Specifically, 27.5% played for three or more hours per session weekly, while 16.2% did so daily. For sessions lasting six or more hours, 19.2% engaged weekly, and 9% daily. In addition, 17.9% of participants were classified with an internet gaming disorder over the past year, and 21.7% aspired to become professional players.
A significant proportion of participants reported physical problems directly attributed to their gaming habits. Eye fatigue was reported by 46.1% of participants, hand or wrist pain by 45.4%, and back or neck pain by 52.1%. These issues were not confined to a specific age group or gender.
The researchers found a dose-response relationship between the frequency of prolonged gaming sessions and the likelihood of reporting physical symptoms. Specifically, individuals who more often engaged in gaming sessions lasting three hours or more exhibited a higher propensity to report physical problems.
“The main takeaway is that three hours of continuous video game playing may be enough to increase someone’s risk of experiencing symptoms of physical harm,” Stjepanović told PsyPost. “This could be back pain, eye strain, hand or wrist pain or other physical conditions. The effect of video game play on physical harm is an area that hasn’t received much research attention, so we didn’t know what to expect going into this study. It was surprising to us that we saw the increased risk of harm at just three hours of continuous play.”
Furthermore, the researchers explored the potential influences of aspiring towards a professional gaming career and the presence of an internet gaming disorder on reported physical symptoms. While aspirations of becoming a professional gamer showed a tendency towards higher reports of physical issues, this did not reach the threshold of statistical significance. However, the presence of an internet gaming disorder demonstrated a more pronounced effect, with those meeting the criteria for such a disorder reporting significantly higher rates of physical problems.
However, “all research is limited in what it can do,” Stjepanović noted. “This work focussed only on people who game regularly, so we don’t know if what we found applies for more casual players. We also don’t know how other activities, such as having an office job where you use a computer for long stretches of time, affect the relationship we saw between video game play and physical harm.”
“We are hoping to expand the work we have done so far into other cultures where we know that video game play is different from the countries we have examined thus far (Australia, Canada, UK and USA),” he added. “Video gaming is an enjoyable and enriching experience for most people. We are trying to understand the positive and negative aspects of video gaming as part of our mission of advancing the wellbeing of young people.”
The study, “Extended hours of video game play and negative physical symptoms and pain,” was authored by Janni Leung, John B. Saunders, Daniel Stjepanović, Calvert Tisdale, Caitlin McClure-Thomas, Jason Connor, Matthew Gullo, Andrew P. Wood, and Gary Chung Kai Chan.