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San Francisco Chronicle
5 days ago
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
Score a bonus with these video gaming tips: Extra life in the real world
In video games, all players usually need to do to stay healthy is to drink the occasional healing potion or perhaps grab a floating heart. Avoiding zombies and killer aliens helps, too. In real life, deadly monsters may be less common, but maintaining health is trickier. Luckily, it doesn't take a secret hack to stay well while playing, experts say – and some of their advice might even help you level up your game. Gaming has its benefits Some aspects of gaming can be good for you, said Dr. Joanne Donoghue, director of clinical research at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury. "There's definitely a plus side," said Donoghue, who has led several studies on professional gamers' health. Some action video games have been shown to improve reaction time and may help with multitasking, she said. And unlike gamers from earlier eras, modern players sitting with their headphones and microphones are "live and interacting with a lot of people at one time. So there is a social component." Dr. Jason Nagata, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, has studied the effects of screen time, including video games, on children and adolescents. He said digital media is "not inherently good or bad. There are some risks but also some benefits." The risks from gaming are both broad and specific. For starters, there are only 24 hours in a day, and "if you're sitting on a couch playing your video game for however many hours, that's basically time that you're not outside, walking, being physically active," or doing anything else that's good for your physical or mental health, Nagata said. Excessive video game time also can be associated with lack of sleep and poor nutrition, he said. That can affect heart health. Donoghue's research published in 2019 in BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine showed that competitive gamers, also called esports athletes, frequently report problems such as eye fatigue and neck, back, hand and wrist pain. Donoghue led another study, published in April in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, that showed men who were competitive gamers had significantly higher body fat levels and significantly less muscle mass than noncompetitive gamers with the same body mass index, or BMI. "When you're sedentary, and you're not putting in the hours of exercise or strength training, essentially your muscles are atrophying," she said. Meanwhile, players' heart rates can soar in an unhealthy stress response. Combining stress with immobility may raise the risk of a type of dangerous blood clot called deep vein thrombosis, which typically forms in the legs, arms or pelvis. "Gamer's thrombosis" has been documented in players as young as 12 years old. In 2004, a 24-year-old South Korean who played a game for 80 hours straight died after a blood clot traveled to his lungs. Prolonged sitting at a computer at least 10 hours in a 24-hour period and at least two hours at a time without getting up has been associated with nearly triple the risk of developing dangerous blood clots, and the risk can rise for each hour seated without getting up. Video games are linked to mental health as well. Nagata led a review of data collected by the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Study that looked at the effects of screen time and social media use, including video games, on more than 11,000 adolescents. The analysis by Nagata and his colleagues was published in the journal Current Opinion in Pediatrics in April. The ABCD study showed that greater screen time is associated with depression, anxiety and other problems, he said. The social nature of gaming can also expose teens to problems such as cyberbullying. And while video game addiction is not an official diagnosis, Nagata said, psychologists acknowledge that some gamers can show signs of addiction, including withdrawal symptoms when not playing, loss of interest in other activities and "a general loss of control related to video gaming." Luckily, six simple steps can help prevent many gaming-related problems, Nagata and Donoghue said. 1. Move something besides your thumbs A little exercise can make a difference, Donoghue said. Donoghue and her colleagues have measured the effects of taking an hourly 6-minute walking break on a small group of competitive gamers. In one study, published in 2024 in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, gamers who took such a break saw significant improvement in their blood flow volume and velocity. Wearing sock-like compression sleeves also provided a small benefit. In that study, about two-thirds of the participants believed that the break had helped their gaming performance. In a separate study Donoghue led, published in 2021 in BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine, competitive players who took a walk break improved cognitive performance, with shorter planning and solution times on problem-solving tasks. Other researchers, who published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise in 2020, found that a short bout of intense exercise improved video game performance. Which all underpins Donoghue's advice to gamers: Set a timer, take breaks and stay active. "You've got to get the exercise in. You've got to move your body. The body is meant for motion, and muscles atrophy, no matter what age you're at." Federal physical activity guidelines call for at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity, or a combination of both. The guidelines also discourage people from being sedentary and suggest they participate in moderate- to high-intensity activities to strengthen muscles at least two days per week. 2. Fuel up carefully In research on young adolescents, more time gaming has been associated with a less nutritious diet and a higher BMI, Nagata said. "Some of the potential reasons for that are that if you are eating while you're distracted, you're more likely to eat junk foods," he said. "You're also less likely to pay attention to your hunger or fullness cues, so you might eat more than you otherwise would if you were not distracted in front of screens." So avoid mixing eating and gaming, he said. High-caffeine energy drinks have become part of gaming culture, Donoghue said, but such drinks have been linked to a risk of a variety of health problems, including heart rhythm issues and cardiac arrest. A consortium of health groups, including the American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics, issued recommendations in January that say caffeinated beverages are not recommended for children younger than 18. 3. Try active games Some games do encourage motion, Nagata said. These "exergames" can help players avoid being sedentary. "And some of those associations that we see related to weight gain and poor eating are probably not the case when you're exergaming or moving around a little bit more," he said. 4. Turn off screens before bed "When people play video games at night right before bedtime, that can take away from the time they have to sleep," Nagata said. In a 2024 survey by the Pew Research Center, 41% of teens said video games had hurt their sleep. A study published in March in Frontiers in Psychiatry found that among Norwegian college students, an hour of screen time before bed was associated with a loss of 24 minutes of sleep. The AAP recommends turning off screens an hour before bedtime and keeping video games in common areas to help parents keep an eye on use. 5. Monitor and get buy-in Parents need to be aware that some games just aren't suitable for kids, Donoghue said. "I don't think they realize how interactive they are and how toxic they can become." Parents should pay attention to ratings, which can help keep inappropriate games away from children, she said. Nagata said it's important to get buy-in from children on restrictions, though. "You have to pick your battles," he said. For him, the most important health-related limits would be limiting games at meals and bedtime. The AAP recommends having a family media plan, which Nagata described as "a set of guidelines that is individualized to your household and that can take into account your kids' ages, what devices you have" and other factors. It should involve regular conversations and check-ins with the whole family. Parents can start by modeling good behavior, he said. Parents' own media use is a big predictor of video game time in kids. "If you are going to make rules about household screen use, it's important that you follow them and act as a good example for your kids." 6. Have fun, but check yourself Video games are about entertainment, leisure and recreation, Nagata said. "If they are fun for you, and it's not displacing other things, then it's fine to play them in moderation." But every so often, he said, ask yourself how you're feeling. If your reply is, "Oh, wow, the last hour has passed – I don't know what happened, and I kind of feel tired and cranky," then it might be time to also ask, "What else could I be doing? Maybe go outside. Maybe take a walk or meet up with some friends in person."
NZ Herald
21-05-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
The White House doctor in the picture over Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis
Among their biggest jobs is to perform an annual physical exam performed at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre to determine if the President is fit for office. Stringent and thorough, they test everything from the President's general health, to their neurological and cognitive ability. For decades, the White House has publicly released the results of the President's annual physical, listing their medications and other basic details about their health status. But administrations have great discretion over what to include in the releases, given that there is no federal law requiring US presidents to release their health records. In turn, some reports have faced questions over their accuracy. At the centre of Biden's medical care is Dr O'Connor, who has had a close relationship with the Biden family that dates back to 2009. The man Biden simply calls 'Doc' treated Biden's mother after she fell ill while recovering from hip surgery. Years later, he is said to have consulted with Biden's niece about an eye problem. His relationship with Biden grew as he shadowed the medical team involved in the treatment of his son Beau's brain cancer. As Beau's condition worsened, O'Connor was the family's 'eyes and ears' at the hospital, according to the memoir Promise Me, Dad. He would go on to become a voice of reason for the former President. When Biden developed a fever before a trip to Central America, he described in his memoir how O'Connor urged him not to travel and to rest instead. 'Right now, you look like s***. I can't make you not look like s***,' Biden recounted. He ultimately took this advice. He was initially contracted to be Biden's physician for just six months when the Obama administration began in 2009. 'That didn't work out and, so, I ended up doing the whole eight years with him,' O'Connor joked in an interview last year with the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine about his role as the President's chief physician. Biden brought O'Connor back to the White House when he became President in 2021. 'I retired and had a plan, and here I am again,' O'Connor, who grew up in New Jersey, said at the time. Dr O'Connor worked closely with Biden's brother Outside of the White House, O'Connor is said to have worked closely with James Biden, the President's brother, at a company that operated rural hospitals. The stocky former army surgeon was always close to his number one patient, ready to provide care as needed though few outside the building would know who he is. But Biden's politically crippling debate performance changed all that. It was he, just four months before the disastrous debate that unfolded in front of that world, who had overseen Biden's most recent physical exam in 2024 insisting the President at the time 'continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations'. Trump questions medical assessments Since then, a new book based on the accounts of White House insiders, Original Sin, claimed that aides shielded the public from the extent of Biden's decline. Donald Trump questioned the medical assessments carried out by Dr O'Connor during a press conference in the Oval Office on Monday evening. He said: 'I think that if you take a look, it's the same doctor that said that Joe was cognitively fine. 'There was nothing wrong with him'. If it's the same doctor, he said, there was nothing wrong there, and that's being proven to be a sad situation.' 'And I think somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor if it's the same or even if it's two separate doctors. Why wasn't the cognitive ability? Why wasn't that discussed? And I think the doctor said 'he's just fine', and it's turned out that's not so, it's very dangerous,' he added. Dr Zeke Emanuel, vice-provost for global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania told The Daily Telegraph: 'We have a long history of where the illnesses of presidents have been hidden from the public. 'We need an independent group of doctors, three doctors, not chosen by the president and not politicised.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The White House physician at the centre of Biden's care
Signing off on the final routine medical examination of Joe Biden's presidency, physician Kevin O'Connor declared the former US president to be a 'healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male'. But the diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer, said only to have been discovered last week, has raised questions over the transparency of White House physicians and their personal loyalty to the presidents they serve. It is unclear whether the former president was screened for prostate cancer during his presidency and health bodies have warned that PSA testing is often unreliable. As with all presidents, the responsibility of their medical care lies with the White House physician, who serves as the personal doctor to the leader of the free world. They run a military-like operation providing round-the-clock medical care to the president, often accompanying them on Air Force One during domestic and international trips. Among their biggest jobs is to perform an annual physical exam performed at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre to determine if the president is fit for office. Stringent and thorough, they test everything from the president's general health, to their neurological and cognitive ability. For decades, the White House has publicly released the results of the president's annual physical, listing their medications and other basic details about their health status. But administrations have great discretion over what to include in the releases, given that there is no federal law requiring US presidents to release their health records. In turn, some reports have faced questions over their accuracy. At the centre of Mr Biden's medical care is Dr O'Connor, who has had a close relationship with the Biden family that dates back to 2009. The man Mr Biden simply calls 'Doc' treated Mr Biden's mother after she fell ill while recovering from hip surgery. Years later, he is said to have consulted with Mr Biden's niece about an eye problem. His relationship with Mr Biden grew as he shadowed the medical team involved in the treatment of his son Beau's brain cancer. As Beau's condition worsened, Dr O'Connor was the family's 'eyes and ears' at the hospital, according to the memoir Promise me Dad. He would go on to become a voice of reason for the former president. When Mr Biden developed a fever ahead of trip to Central America, he described in his memoir how Dr O'Connor urged him not to travel and to rest instead. 'Right now, you look like s---. I can't make you not look like s---,' Mr Biden recounted. He ultimately took this advice. He was initially contracted to be Mr Biden's physician for just six months when the Obama administration began in 2009. 'That didn't work out and, so, I ended up doing the whole eight years with him,' Dr O'Connor joked in an interview last year with the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine about his role as the president's chief physician. Mr Biden brought Dr O'Connor back to the White House when he became president in 2021. 'I retired and had a plan, and here I am again,' Dr O'Connor, who grew up in New Jersey, said at the time. Outside of the White House, Dr O'Connor is said to have worked closely with James Biden, the president's brother, at a company that operated rural hospitals. The stocky former army surgeon was always close to his number one patient, ready to provide care as needed though few outside the building would know who he is. But Mr Biden's politically crippling debate performance changed all that. It was he, just four months before the disastrous debate that unfolded in front of that world, who had overseen Mr Biden's most recent physical exam in 2024 insisting the president at the time 'continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations'. Since then, a new book based on the accounts of White House insiders, Original Sin, claimed that aides shielded the public from the extent of Mr Biden's decline. 'We have a long history of where the illnesses of presidents have been hidden from the public,' Dr Zeke Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania told The Telegraph. 'We need an independent group of doctors, three doctors, not chosen by the president and not politicised.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
