TV turns on, console gets started, and your headset is on. You’re ready to play video games and just have a great time.

I love video games too; it’s one of my favorite hobbies. However, many parents and doctors are reporting that students or children who spend many hours on video games can change their health and their behaviors. People who play video games should be careful about their health and how their behavior can change.

One issue about students and children when they play too many video games is that they develop an addiction. According to Medical News Today, Hannah Nichols states, “Exposing video game addicts to game-related cues that cause cravings, and monitoring their brain responses, highlighted these changes – changes that are also seen in other addictive disorders.” This is an issue because it changes their brain and it can lead to other disorders to make the addiction worse.

Health is important to us. That’s how we grow and develop when we get older. Video games can affect and hurt yourself. Madeline Langham states, “Research suggests that increased screen time may be related to a decrease in both sleep quality and sleep duration. This is particularly noticeable for children and adolescents who have screens (TVs, computers, tablets) in their bedrooms, with access prior to them going to bed. Insufficient sleep, either in quality or duration, has been associated with worsening of many mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety.”

Some children, students, adults, parents, etc. say that video games are beneficial to their health. According to Medical News Today, “For a video game used by children, most parents, 71 percent indicate that video games have a positive influence on their child’s life.” However, according to Primer Health, “Increased aggressive behavior can also be a sign of screen time addiction in kids, especially in children younger than 6 who can’t yet tell the difference between reality and what’s virtual.”

Gaming is really fun to play and entertain yourself but it has some health consequences. Now people are doing activities or something active like exercising, spending time with family, etc so they can have a break off the game. Gaming is good but health is important.