Game on: A cross-sectional study on gamers’ mental health, Game patterns, physical activity, eating and sleeping habits

Abstract

Introduction and purposeProblematic gaming patterns have been associated with mental disorders and an unhealthy lifestyle pattern characterized by poor physical activity, nutritional habits, and sleep patterns. Thus, our objective was to characterize highly engaged Portuguese gamers by assessing the prevalence of these health issues and patterns, including Internet Gaming Disorder. MethodsA sample of 235 gamers (83.3% male) recruited online (through mailing list and social media) participated in online questionnaires to assess sociodemographic and health information, gaming and nutritional habits, physical activity patterns, sleep hygiene, and mental health. ResultsThe highly engaged gamers showed a mean playing time of 3.5 h/day (SD = 2.1) and 5.5 h/day (SD = 3.0) in other screen-related activities. Most of the players reported not consuming snacks while gaming. Physical activity practice was observed in 63.8% of the players. Most of the participants (66.3%) reported poor sleep quality and a “moderately and definitely evening” chronotype (60.4%). Gamers showed low scores of IGD, with only three reported cases, and half of the gamers reporting good psychological well-being. The mean of BSI scores was 1.6 (SD = 0.6), close to the cut-off point of 1.7. ConclusionsPoor sleep quality was observed in Portuguese gamers. Despite this, gamers seem to display a healthy lifestyle consisting of regular physical activity, a healthy diet during gaming time, and an unproblematic gaming behavior, as well as an emotionally healthy profile and state of well-being. Future studies should conduct a more thorough analysis of these variables and further explore possible correlations.