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A university academic claims that professional gamers have the reactions of airline pilots but the health standards of chain smokers.
Dr Dominic Micklewright, from the University of Essex, put several ''elite cyber-sportsmen'' through their paces to see how they compared to athletes. Cyber-sportsmen had mental sharpness and psychological traits comparable to 'real' athletes. In fact they reacted to visual stimuli almost as fast as fighter jet pilots.
However he found their fitness levels were shockingly low and comparable to people either much younger or much older than their actual age. One gamer in his twenties appeared to be slim and healthy with a physique similar to an endurance athlete. But he had the lung function and aerobic fitness of a heavy smoker in his sixties.
Micklewright blamed the gaming lifestyle of spending 10 hours a day in front a computer screen and warned youngsters against such a sedentary lifestyle.
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Gamers have reactions of pilots
…and the health of chain smokers
A university academic claims that professional gamers have the reactions of airline pilots but the health standards of chain smokers.
Dr Dominic Micklewright, from the University of Essex, put several ''elite cyber-sportsmen'' through their paces to see how they compared to athletes. Cyber-sportsmen had mental sharpness and psychological traits comparable to 'real' athletes. In fact they reacted to visual stimuli almost as fast as fighter jet pilots.
However he found their fitness levels were shockingly low and comparable to people either much younger or much older than their actual age. One gamer in his twenties appeared to be slim and healthy with a physique similar to an endurance athlete. But he had the lung function and aerobic fitness of a heavy smoker in his sixties.
Micklewright blamed the gaming lifestyle of spending 10 hours a day in front a computer screen and warned youngsters against such a sedentary lifestyle.