How to Play Video Games Safely

Prolonged gaming can cause health problems. Your eyes can become strained and over tired. Your hands and arms can get sore and sustain long term pain or damage. Fortunately, there are things you can do to make sure that none of these things happen. After all, playing video games should be a fun and rewarding experience. To make it better for you, follow these steps to keeping your video gaming experience safe for your health.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Video Game Console
• Video Games

1. Exercise your eyes. If you start to feel that you eyes are getting tired, look away from the screen. Pick a spot on a wall that’s farther or closer than the distance you are from the television. This will relax your eyes and make you feel better.

2. Keep your distance. To further help your eyes, make sure that you are a sufficient distance from the television. Five to eight feet works in most situations.

3. Take frequent breaks. You can still play safely when you have a long gaming session. All you need to do is take breaks every hour. Get up and walk around. You’ll come back to your game refreshed and ready to go.

4. Follow controller directions. Based on your video game console, there is a specific way to hold your controller. Read the directions to make sure you aren’t doing it wrong. Otherwise, you could become injured.

5. Don’t play games during lightning storms. Even if you have your system plugged into a surge protector, it’s better to be safe. This can prevent you from getting electrocuted or your system from getting damaged.

Tips & Warnings

• For people with epilepsy, you need to be extra careful of the games you play. Steer clear from games with a lot of blinking lights.
• If, for whatever reason, you start to feel sick while playing a game, stop playing and check with your doctor if it persists.