Physical Exertion During Gaming
In order to bring your A-game, it is important to understand the physical burden and exertion that comes with the activity at hand–the same goes for esports. How does competitive gaming impacts the player's physical exertion and state? And what can we do about it? Here are the answers.
• Athletes train for many hours per day that expose them to various burdens affecting their health and performance.
• During gameplay, physical burdens and physical states may change.
• The most common complaints were neck, wrist, and hand pain.
• Over two sessions of gaming (180-240 min.), the physical exertion increased by 20%.
• A 10 min. break partially restored the physical exertion and physical state.
Esports athletes train between 4 and 10 h/day (some even more) to develop game-specific abilities to improve their skill levels. While playing, gamers are exposed to various burdens that can affect their health and/or performance, such as prolonged sitting, team issues, or high mental stress. Furthermore, prolonged gaming can lead to injuries and pain, which may even cause early retirement for some athletes.
"Therefore, it is important that esports athletes are aware of physical burden and exertion in order to counteract these consequences." [1]
The researchers, therefore, aimed to examine the physical burdens of esports athletes during competitive gameplay. They recruited 32 players (not exactly esports athletes, as the requirement to participate was being in the top 20% of their respective game). However, 59% of them were in the top 5% or higher. The players then underwent the following procedure (see the figure below).
During competitive gameplay, they played ranked matches on their main account for 90-120 min., followed by a 10 min. rest and another gaming session. Per gaming session, they got at least 2 ranked matches in, as each match lasted between 25 and 45 minutes. At each point in time (T0 to T3), they were asked about their physical exertion, as well as every 15 minutes during gameplay, and changes in their physical state.
✂️ Split 'em up!
As in earlier episodes (and hence studies), the researchers found that neck discomfort was the most common complaint among players, followed by hand and wrist pain.
When it comes to training, only 15 out of 32 train on a regular basis (another hint that the sample doesn't really include athletes, but instead recreational gamers—or amateur players at best). However, those who train focus on the following aspects (see the figure below).
Let's talk physical exertion. Compared to before playing, the results show an increase of 20%. Similarly, the perceived physical state decreases as well. What also came through was that the 10 min. break between gaming sessions restored some of the perceived physical burdens.
🥡 The Takeaways
These results aren't super surprising, but highlight something I've been preaching about in earlier episodes: if you play games for longer (meaning hours per day), then it's important for your mental and physical health and ladder rank to take breaks.
This is especially important after losing a game. Don't get into the mindset of "just one more game"—it'll just make it worse! Instead, get up, walk around a bit, stretch, get some water and hydrate... whatever. The results of this study show that you'll feel better—physically and mentally. I know, though, it's hard.
Have great week, everybody.
Christian 🙂
