We all hear the chitchat about how video games make kids overweight, but what few people stop and observe is that video games can take a toll on your eyesight. Just what is your favorite 360 game doing to your vision?
Extensive video-gaming can cause discomfort to your eyes, blurry vision, headaches, and fatigue. How often do you blink while playing a video game? It tends to be far less than normal, and reducing your blinking can affect the flow of your tears throughout your eyes. This can cause your eyes to feel irritated or to feel overly dry.
Another problem is it can be difficult to focus. Let's take your average drawing on a piece of notebook paper. Your brain sees that 2D image on a 2D surface perfectly, and understands and processes that information just as well. Now let's take your favorite video game. Most games now are 3D, however, they're on a 2D surface. This means your eyes constantly have to switch what they're focusing on to cope with processing the information seen. This can effect how you concentrate on objects for a few hours after you turn your game off.
There are a few things you can do to prevent these problems as long as you practice them frequently. Play your game for an hour at the very most, and then take a 30 minute break to cool yourself off. This not only helps eliminate the vision dilemma but gives your console a chance to cool off.
Make sure you sit at least 10 feet away from your TV screen as well. NEVER EVER eat while you're gaming. The concentration on your screen strongly influences overeating.
This last tip is not about your vision, but still valuable. It might seem a little girly to some of the guys, I can see that myself. But, If you're playing intensely violent games (which I don't recommend), get a little sheet of paper out for yourself and write some good feelings every 30 minutes or so. Concentrating on happy thoughts and memorable events settles down adrenaline in your body and can cause you to be less hostile. An even better idea is to bring home a Wii. You may be able to burn some calories while playing your favorite sport with the family.
I bet you're thinking video games are pretty evil now, right? No? Well, there are some benefits towards playing them. I mean come on, they are pretty darn fun. It's also been suggested video games can improve hand eye coordination, of course physical activities like sports can improve that too. They can also help you learn if they include problem solving, which they often do.
I do enjoy my games, but for now I think I'll just stick to good ole Whyville.
Eating healthy,
- Jadenman
Author's Note: Special thanks to Asja for getting me to think about health and how it's affecting my lifestyle.
Sources:
http://vision.about.com/od/childrensvision/qt/Video_Games.htm
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=243&np=295&id=2375
