People hear “gaming” and think it is not as demanding as it sounds – mash a few buttons here and there like there is nothing engaging going on in your life. Ha! To the professional gamer, this is not the case.
It is common to find professional gamers putting in about 16 hours of practice per day. This puts their bodies under a lot of repetitive activity, which might eventually lead to bodily stress. The toll on gamers is why there is the need to have healthy ways to keep the body in shape.
1. Avoid Eye Straining While Gaming
It could be really intense as a game may go – with stage transitions and camera angles moving one’s eye in many directions at once. The focus required would have you looking closely into the screen while figuring out what to do at the time. What you may not be paying attention to is the prolonged screen time which could cause dry eyes, double vision and headaches. What you want to do to prevent that from happening is to reduce the monitor lights, shut your eyes for some minutes before you resume, and/or use a pair of blue-light-blocking glasses to reduce eye strain.
2. Set Time Limits
You may have the day and house to yourself when playing games., but that won’t mean there will not be other activities to be undertaken in the day – chores, baths, cooking, etc. To avoid getting completely lost in gaming, you could set a timer to help make time for other activities. A 15 to 20-minute timer on your phone can be set as an alarm, or you could have some Post-Its on the laptop. Also try to play games you can pause so you can go on ahead to do other stuff.
3. Hydrate
Gaming is known to make you spend so many hours without realizing you have gone for so long with no water. Having three glasses of water may not be enough to have in a day. What you want to do about this is to often have a large bottle of water (1500ml with a refill from time to time) by your side while gaming, and as necessary taking bathroom breaks which could also be used to do a little stretching before you return to your seat.
4. Eat Healthy Foods
It is important to have meals in-between practice and intense sessions of gaming. Snacks do not do enough because the body requires a balanced diet especially when engaging in vigorous (physical or mental) activity. Try to cook meals with vegetables in them, eat less processed foods, and have more fresh fruits in your diets.
5. Remember to Sleep!
The gaming experience comes with a lot of demand on both the mental and physical – the thinking required to execute gameplay and the use of fingers, (arms and legs for my Oculus Rift VR folks), and quite the turning of the body in your chair. The eyes being exposed to the screen will make it challenging to fall asleep, and should this continue could lead to insomnia. To avoid this from happening, do well to stop gaming an hour before your bedtime. This would give you time to rest your eyes and do a little stretching before bed.
There may be other ways you employ as a gamer to help you have a healthy life; try those! Have fun, play hard and remember to take care of yourself.
Esports has helped create jobs for lots of people. Interested in knowing about the business side of esports? Listen to the Gamers Change Lives Podcast! We get experienced guests from all around the world featuring.
Jeffrey Osei-Agyeman
