Excessive gamers sleep less

Sometimes in editing this blog, I stumble upon research that is a few years old, but seems more relevant today than it was when the research was published.

I think it is fair to say that computer gaming, specifically on mobile devices, is more ubiquitous today than it was in 2009.  I know many people who rarely played computer games in 2009 who now play games on tablets and smartphones. "Candy Crush" comes to mind as the latest widespread addiction.

I have been an "excessive" gamer (more than seven hours a week of playing, according to this study) more times in my life than I care to count.  I actually laughed when I saw this study, because I was surprised "excessive" gaming was not counted as more than 7 hours a day which has not been outside my own experience.  As a matter of fact, I would offer that if you ask most gamers who play online roleplaying games, fewer than 7 hours a day of playing represents someone who might be considered by other gamers to be a little lazy. 

As new technologies emerge, I think we will see gaming take new forms.  I believe that when Google's Project Glass becomes popular, or items like it, people will be gaming in their glasses.  Some of them will game more than seven hours per day.  Hey, you can say you saw it here first.  Let's track that prediction.

It is important to note that if you receive fewer than 8 hours of sleep per night as an adult, and fewer than 9 hours of sleep per night as an adolescent, you are considered to be sleep deprived and your performance at work/school is likely to be suffering.  But another thing that is likely to be suffering is your mood, and if you operate a motor vehicle, you can reasonably expect to be worse at that too.

Let's all make an effort to get to bed for adequate rest.

See the original Science Daily article on the study here.