Health risks of playing mobile games like PubG - recently banned in one of India's colleges | Photo Credit: Twitter

New Delhi: If you have any teenagers or twenty-year-olds around you, you definitely have heard the name of the famous mobile game “PUBG” that went online earlier this year and became extremely popular with the young gamers of today. The backlash on the game was experienced on a personal level when moms got angry about their children being so engrossed in the game that they forgot everything around them.

In a notification issued on March 6 by the Rajkot Police, the mobile game PubG and the MOMO challenge were banned. 10 people were arrested on March 14, 2019, for playing the game by the Rajkot Police. VIT college in Chennai had also issued a circular claiming that the game is “spoiling the entire atmosphere of the hostel” and has become an “addiction” for the students. In January earlier this year, a man from Jammu who is a professional fitness trainer, has lost mental balance playing PubG and started to self-harm himself and had to be hospitalised. According to a leading daily, this is the sixth case in Jammu of similar effects of the online game.

Following the events, various questions have come to light where people are questioning if it is only careers or studies that get affected by online games, or the problem also ascends into the social life of the gamer while posing a threat to his/her health? If looked at objectively, more than career, video and mobile games are having an extremely adverse impact on health which really need attention. Also read WHO's ICD-11 released: Gaming addiction classified as a mental health condition

Eyesight

It is no new knowledge that gaming and constant staring into a mobile phone or a laptop screen can have an adverse effect on the eyesight. According to statistics, 55% of casual games and 64% of heavy gamers in India are below the age of 24. Games these days are so addictive that children and young people don't even realise when they become too engrossed in it, ending up playing them for long hours in a day, impacting their eyesight. In adverse cases, it may also lead to migraines and regular headaches.

Spondylitis

A study by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, USA, has revealed that the incidence of cervical spondylitis is increasing with ageing in the young population meaning that the people who are young now have very higher chances of experiencing cervical spondylitis. A very major reason for the problem can be the posture that people exhibit while playing mobile video games. They usually lie down inappropriately or sit for long hours that can lead to a problem with bones and muscles and also lead to spondylitis in the long run.

Fatigue

The effects of addictive playing can be worse than imagined. It is reported that people get so addicted to gaming that they sacrifice proper sleep to play games. They lie down in bed with lights off, the light of their phone screens straining their eye and do not sleep for the recommended time, leading to fatigue, drowsiness and dizziness.

Substance abuse

Video game addiction has also been linked to mental health issues like depression, and insomnia and substance abuse is also a result of the compulsive disorder. It is an endless cycle where game addiction can trigger the want of drugs and the consumption of those can lead to compulsive disorder and the addiction worsening. Also read Back pain linked to substance abuse in teenagers

Poor personal hygiene

It was observed that people who are too indulged in video games are so engrossed in them that they do not pay attention to their personal hygiene like cleaning and cutting their nails, keeping their surrounding clean, combing their hair properly, which can cause more serious health issues like infections in the stomach due to dirty hands.