An estimated 164 million Americans – half of our population – play video games, also called games. Contrary to many people’s beliefs, games are not just for teenagers. According to a recent survey, only 21% of players were under 18 years old. While gambling can be a fun delusion or hobby (and can even become a competitive sport on many university campuses), gambling poses too many health risks. What is this damage and what can be done about it?
Is there anything good in the games?
Before we talk about the disadvantages of gaming, it is fair to mention the advantages. In addition to entertaining and entertaining games, they can be a way to communicate with each other – a virtual community – as they work together to perform common tasks. Our society is suffering from an epidemic of loneliness, and the play can be a way of communicating with others, including the normally difficult to contact in your life with the people, such as children, the child or children (I have seen this very useful) with autistic children. there are challenges with traditional forms of communication.
There has been mixed research showing that gaming has some cognitive benefits, such as better attention control and improved spatial reasoning, although it is not entirely clear how far these benefits extend beyond the real video game area. Finally, video games have medical applications, such as teaching people with degenerative diseases to improve balance, helping ADHD teens improve their thinking skills, or training surgeons to perform technically complex surgeries.
Gambling injuries
Repetitive stress or overuse injuries are injuries caused by activity that repeatedly uses muscles and tendons to the point that they cause pain and inflammation. As these injuries progress, numbness and weakness can develop, leading to permanent injuries. Excessive use of velvet injuries to hands and arms is common among players with cavities.
A well-known example is the qualifying tunnel syndrome, which is developed by many players. Carpal tunnel syndrome is often seen in office workers and is associated with nerve inflammation in the wrist that causes pain and numbness.
Formerly known as “PlayStation Thumb” (or “Nintendinitis” or “Nintendonitis” because Nintendo was popular), “Gamer’s Thumb” occurs when the tendons that move the thumb become inflamed. The medical term for this is de Quervains tenosynovitis and can cause swelling and movement restrictions. Players are also at risk of triggering fingers or stenosynovitis, which means the finger is stuck in a bent position due to chronic inflammation. Players can also get tennis elbows, a painful inflammation from a place where the tendon extends to a bone outside the elbow.
Gambling is also associated with adolescent obesity, and the same is likely to be seen in studies in adults. This is due to the obvious phenomenon that when a teenager spends hours in front of a screen every day, he or she doesn’t move much. Obesity is also due to increased food intake while playing video games. According to a study by the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “one video game session of healthy young men is associated with increased food intake regardless of appetite.” The proposed mechanisms are that either the signals affecting satiety (completeness) are compromised, or the mental stress associated with playing video games activates pay centers, leading to increased food intake.
Vision problems are a common complaint among players. The most common vision problem is eye strain, which can lead to headaches and poor concentration. Gaming has been reported to cause seizures, leading to warnings on the packaging.
Gambling addiction
Games have also been linked to mental health problems. There is still an open question as to whether video gambling addiction or Internet gambling disorder (IGD) is a unique syndrome. According to the American Psychological Association, the IGD defines at least five of the following nine criteria over a 12-month period:
