Pro gamers have fighter pilot-like reflexes and heavy smoker-like bodies

Top-level professional gamers earn tens of millions of yen a year through prize money and sponsorship contracts, and they seem to live a life similar to athletes by eating with one arm through their innate qualities and daily training. But is it a 'sport' if you master video games?

A study at the University of Essex that compared the mind and body of professional gamers and athletes revealed a surprising fact.

Computer gamers'have reactions of pilots but bodies of chain smokers' --Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/7808860/Computer-gamers-have-reactions-of-pilots-but-bodies-of-chain-smokers.html

Competitive video games are sometimes referred to as 'electronic sports ' or 'cyber sports,' but what physical and psychological qualities do the actual top athletes and top cyber athletes have in common or differ? To find out if there is a game and see if the game can be called a 'sport,' Dr. Dominic Micklewright and colleagues at Essex University conducted physiological and psychological tests on multiple professional gamers.

As a result, the mental characteristics and brain clarity of cyber athletes were comparable to those of professional athletes, and the reaction speed to visual stimuli was close to that of fighter pilots.

Unfortunately, however, the physical health of cyber athletes was surprisingly low.

A top male gamer in his twenties was apparently lean and healthy, resembling an endurance athlete, but tested to show lung function and aerobic endurance of 60. It turned out to be on par with the heavy smokers of the generation.

Dr. Micklewright said, 'At this age, you should be much stronger and healthier. It may be professionally unavoidable for a professional gamer who spends 10 hours a day in front of the screen, but such a lifestyle There may be long-term consequences, such as an increased risk of heart disease in the future. '

While games 10 hours a day may be a professionally unavoidable health risk for professional gamers, Dr. Micklewright warns about the sedentary life of game-loving children. 'Children's game time strongly correlates with the risk of childhood obesity and later heart disease.'

The difference in health between athletes and cyber athletes seems to have been higher than expected, but Dr. Micklewright was also surprised to find that there are so many other common traits.

'Reflex speed, motor skills, competitiveness, emotional aspects, etc. were fairly close. Elite athletes have exceptionally high levels of positive emotions and exceptionally low levels of negative emotions such as depression and malaise. But even professional gamers have similar characteristics, though not as prominently as athletes, 'says Dr. Micklewright. 'Both video games and sports have many common qualities, such as competitiveness, skill requirements, and clear rules, but the decisive difference in video games is that they don't move violently. Video games are excluded from 'sports' '

'But sports, such as snooker and darts, which require the same high skill as video games but are not physical and are on the borderline, are also called'sports'. What is ultimately'sports'? Is socially defined. '