Study: Gamers' bodies like 60-year-old chain smokers

Top gamers can earn tens of thousands of pounds a year in prize money and sponsorship but academics have warned the cost to their health could be devastating. Dr Dominic Micklewright, from the University of Essex, put several ''elite cyber-sportsmen'' through their paces to see how they compared to professional athletes. The head of Sport, Performance, and Fatigue Research Unit also wanted to determine whether video gaming should be classed as a sport. The cyber-sportsmen had mental sharpness and psychological traits comparable to 'real' athletes, and reacted to visual stimuli almost as fast as fighter jet pilots.

But their fitness levels were shockingly low and comparable to people either much younger or much older than their actual age. One leading gamer in his twenties appeared to be slim and healthy with a physique similar to an endurance athlete. But tests revealed he in fact had the lung function and aerobic fitness of a heavy smoker in his sixties. Dr Micklewright blamed the gaming lifestyle of spending 10 hours a day in front a computer screen and warned youngsters against such a sedentary lifestyle. He said: ''Someone of this age should be much fitter, but perhaps this is the occupational hazard of the professional gamer who can spend around 10 hours a day in front of a screen.

''It is always difficult to say how these things will develop, but it could have long term health implications such as an increased risk of heart disease. ''Screen time with children has a very strong correlation with childhood obesity and risk factors with heart disease later in life.'' But Dr Micklewright was equally surprised by the number of characteristics gamers did share with top athletes.

He said: ''Their reaction time, motor skill, competitiveness and emotions were pretty close. ''Elite athletes have unusually high levels of positive feelings and low levels of negative feelings such as depression and fatigue. ''We saw similar characteristics in gamers, albeit not quite as pronounced.''

Dr Micklewright said video gamers would benefit from balancing playing video games with getting fitter but their sedentary lifestyle meant they should not be classed as athletes. He said: ''There is an inextricable link between the function of the mind and the body. ''Gaming shares some characteristics with sport because both are competitive, skill-based and governed by structured rules.

''But the main distinction which precludes gaming from being a sport is the lack of physical exertion. ''However, in the end sport is socially defined and there are sports, such as snooker and darts, which you might argue are on the boundary.

''Like video games these require very high levels of skill, but are relatively sedentary and not physically demanding.'' Dr Micklewright conducted the research for The eSportsman, a Radio Four programme set to be broadcast on Friday. He ran a series of physiological and psychological tests on gamers at the Gadget Show Live in April at the NEC Arena in Birmingham.

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