Videogame Addiction in Children and Teens Causes Sleep Deprivation

Some children and teens develop serious addiction-like symptoms to video games, which can have an impact on sleep habits, obesity, and cardio-metabolic health.

The risk of sleep deprivation, disorders associated with obesity and poor cardio-metabolic health are high among children and teens with high levels of videogame addiction, says a new research.

The study, published in the scientific journal PLOS One, examines the growing global gaming phenomenon and its impact on youth health.

Sale of Skyrim Videogame Sky Rocketing
Skyrim is current year’s second fastest selling videogame, with a whopping 3.4 million plus copies promoted in only two days since its release, VGChartz reports.

‘Children and teens with videogame addiction experience a shorter duration of sleep, which affects the cardio-metabolic health.’

Dr. Katherine Morrison, co-author of the study, worked with researchers from McMaster and California State University, Fullerton. She is an associate professor of pediatrics at McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and a pediatric endocrinologist at the McMaster Children's Hospital.

Her team's findings are serious, given the rise in videogame addictions, she said.

"This is an important phenomenon to understand. We are seeing that some children and teens develop serious addiction-like symptoms to video games," said Morrison. "It affects a vulnerable population of children and youth, can impact social interactions amongst youth and, as our research shows, can drive health issues."

Many US Teens Get New Friends Through Social Networks, Video Game Forums
Mobile phones, social media, and for boys, online video gaming, have become deeply enmeshed in creating and maintaining teen friendships.

For their research, the team studied a group of children and teens ages 10 to 17 who were in lifestyle management programs - either for weight management or lipid disorders. The study looked at whether the videogame habits of the group had an impact on sleep habits, obesity, and cardio-metabolic health.

Using fitness trackers, the team monitored the sleep duration and compared that to the youth's videogame usage. The data showed that videogame addiction symptoms resulted in shorter sleep which, in turn, was related to elevated blood pressure, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high triglycerides, and high insulin resistance.

Professor Develops Video Game That Shows How a Smoker Would Look Like After 20 Yrs
A video game that showed social smokers what they might look like after 20 years of smoking was developed by an assistant professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).

It is important to note that this was a specific group of children and teens, added Morrison, and it is unknown if this information applies to the general population.

"That said, we were amazed that amongst gamers, videogame addiction scores explained one-third of the differences in sleep duration," said Morrison. "Sleep is emerging as a critical behavior for cardio-metabolic health, and this data shows that gaming addictions can cause numerous health issues in at least a segment of the population."

World's Most Expensive Video Game Comes in 125k Pounds
A video game costing 125,000 pounds, which comes with its very own supercar is officially the most expensive in the world.

"Childhood obesity tracks into adulthood and obese children face a greater risk of cardiovascular and coronary diseases as well as type-2 diabetes as adults. It is urgent to target early lifestyle behaviors such as videogame addictive tendencies that could lead to major future health consequences."

Morrison said the research team is in the early days of evaluating videogame addiction in children and teens. They plan on studying the effects in general populations while also analyzing video game usage and addiction tendencies of gamers over time.

Source-Eurekalert