Gaming Fatigue: It's a Thing! Posted Jan 11, 2023

There is absolutely no doubt that the video game industry is huge. It's not just the money, but the competing online and streaming games, buying them from the stores, and going into arcades and gaming shops to play them in advance, there are so many ways to play games that everybody is involved. People can gain from their phones, from their tablets, from their laptops, from their PCs, from their PlayStations, from their Xboxes, you name it, and people can play from it.

The unfortunate thing is that there is some detriment that comes with gaming, and that's known as gaming fatigue. Gaming fatigue is a very real thing, and those who are in the industry themselves are very much in the center of gaming fatigue and burnout. Whether it's streaming or competing, casting or running a gaming organization, there are opportunities for everyone. There is also gaming burnout, which is something that can affect players. When you are playing games for too long, your body gets too tired to continue and crashes.

What is Gaming Fatigue?

We hear about fatigue and burnout which is used to describe in today's workforce anybody who has become genuinely overworked and under rested. If you're working long hours and you're not getting enough sleep, and you do this over a period of time, this is burnout. Professional streamers and gamers in E sports as well as amateur gamers aspiring to compete often feel burnout and fatigue. There are plenty of online tournaments that are organized for gamers and other professionals who are involved in the process of gaming. You can buy Delta 9 products to help with the stress, but you have to understand whether it's fatigue you are suffering from before you do that.

How Does Gaming Fatigue Occur?

There are so many factors that play into gaming burnout but they are very much related to an increased level of emotional or physical stress with a limited amount of rest. Much of the stress here is fueled by that pressure to do more and to stream more hours per day. There are some people out there who even compete to stream more hours than others and therefore compete to get less sleep. When this happens, the body cannot cope. While it's a commitment, it's not quite the right kind of commitment because it can lead to self neglect or disinterest in other aspects of life. Gaming is wonderful, but it can be addictive and it can be detrimental to your health especially in this case. Without the right sleep, your body cannot heal and fatigue sets in. This leads to many different physical and psychological symptoms. Let's take a look at those.

Signs You’re Dealing with Gaming Fatigue

If you are starting to feel exhausted or burnout, you will be experiencing certain symptoms. These are usually exhaustion related and you'll feel irritable and your emotions will be completely drained. You might also experience physical ailments such as a headache or you might feel physically weak. Here are some of the symptoms you might consider related to gaming fatigue:

• You are not interested in other hobbies. A very good symptom of gaming fatigue is that you are losing your interest in the activities that you've previously enjoyed. For example whether it's in your primary game or in playing general video games, you are withdrawing your streaming hours and you're not spending as much time playing.
• Your performance is generally reduced. Open due to both physical and emotional factors. You may be experiencing physical exhaustion which can reduce your energy. The emotional factors include what we've already mentioned about being disinterested in the game you are playing. This can lead it to be very difficult to concentrate and that can impede your efforts in your game.

Preventing Gaming Fatigue

Once you've identified gaming fatigue, you need to do what you can to mitigate it. Preventing it from happening includes learning how to rest. It sounds so simple but when you are set on a certain goal or you want to sit in front of your games all you want to do is concentrate on that. It really does come down to having sufficient rest, but there are so many moving parts to this and we've listed some of the ways that you can prevent gaming fatigue.

• Sleep. First and foremost you need to sleep. It's an important part of your overall health in general, but you should really consider getting more sleep and less gaming time. It may sound like we're taking you away from your gaming here, but what we mean is that sufficient sleep cannot be understated. Without it, your health and your Wellness will suffer. Insufficient sleep can suppress your immune system and decrease your abilities physically. Your reaction times annual nerve conduction are going to be slower. You will also have a decreased focus and your memory will not be able to hold everything it needs. Your whole body suffers when you don't get enough sleep, so it's so important that you make sure that your sleep schedule is regular even if you love the game.
• Take regular breaks. It's easy to get caught up in hours of gameplay, but the brakes are so important for your mental well being. Stepping away from your stream or your video game and taking your eyes off of a screen is so important. It's easy to sit on a screen all day long at work and then go home and spend more hours on gaming screens and it's not good for you or for your health. You need to have things that you enjoy outside of your gaming, so set an alarm, spend a certain length of time on your game and then physically get up and move away from it. Whether you are streaming or playing video games at home, or you are doing it elsewhere, you need to schedule time outside of the house to do something different. By physically stepping away from it all, you will help your mind and body cope with the stress of excessive work. You have to separate your vacation style from your craft, and if streaming is your job you need to make sure that you take vacation time.
• Check in with your mental health. It's so important that you have somebody that you can speak to if your mental health is starting to decline. Speaking with a therapist or a mental health professional is a preventative and treatment measure. Having regular visits with a mental health professional are just as important as regular Wellness visits to a primary care Physician.

It's wonderful to find a hobby in gaming, but if this hobby is becoming a detriment to your mental health and your physical well being, it may be worth stepping away for a while and finding something else to occupy your mind and your time. If you rely on gaming as part of your income, then you need to find better ways to structure it so that you are not dealing with fatigue burnout as a result. Taking on as many relaxation measures as possible is vital for your health, so do your research and find something that works for you. What you have learned is the signs and symptoms of fatigue, you are going to be better equipped to find out whether your body is suffering from it, two. Make sure that you are doing as much reading as possible away from your screen to learn about yourself and how your body can cope.