Videogame players ‘often miss out on sleep due to playing’

Videogame players will often put off obtaining adequate sleep in order to continue playing, according to a new study.

Led by the University of North Texas Health Science Center, the research was compiled from online surveys from 963 US gamers with an average age of 28.7 years. Questions were asked about demographics, choice of consoles and genres, and playing frequency and duration.

It was shown that gaming was an important factor that frequently led to missed sleep for 67 percent of those polled, with gamers delaying going to bed 36 percent of the nights they played.

On average, they played games 4.6 nights per week, with the average delay in bedtime on the nights spent gaming calculated at 101 minutes.

According to the researchers, the reasons provided by gamers for their choice to delay their bedtime "strongly supports" the inclusion of gaming as an addictive behaviour.

Lead author and principal investigator Dr Brandy Roane, assistant professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, said: "These finding provide further insight into factors that influence individuals' decision making when determining if they should get sufficient sleep."