A New Harvard Study Has Revealed the Secret Dangers of Gaming
Gaming might be good for our well-being, but that doesn't mean a lot of it is good for us—especially from a health point of view. In fact, according to researchers from Harvard University, gaming has a lot of secret health risks.
Let's start with the gaming's benefits. Aside from making people happier, online gaming offers a community, as well as a sense of belonging. From building better attention and improving spatial reasoning, research has also shown that there are cognitive benefits to it.
Too much gaming, however, can lead to not-so-secret dangers such as injuries, addiction, and more. The list of gaming-related injuries starts at gamer's thumb. The researchers say the condition was formerly called PlayStation thumb (or "nintendinitis" or "nintendonitis" when Nintendo was popular).
"The medical term for this is de Quervain’s tenosynovitis, and it can lead to swelling and limited movement. Gamers are also at risk for trigger finger, or stenosing tenosynovitis, which is when a finger gets stuck in the bent position due to chronic inflammation. Gamers can also get tennis elbow, a painful inflammation of the place where the tendon inserts into the bone on the outside of the elbow," the researchers said.
Addiction, on the other hand, has also been observed in 0.3 percent to 1 percent of Americans. The symptoms of which include gaming preoccupation; withdrawal; tolerance; loss of interest in other activities; downplaying use; loss of relationship, educational, or career opportunities; gaming to escape or relieve anxiety, guilt, or other negative mood states; failure to control; continued gaming despite psychosocial problems.
That said, this all applies to too much gaming. Keep this in mind: everything in moderation.
