Playing video games for more than 10 hours a week could have a significant impact on young people’s diet, sleep and body weight, according to a new Curtin University-led study published in Nutrition.

Researchers surveyed 317 students from five Australian universities with a median age of 20 years old.

They split participants into three groups depending on the self-reported amount of time spent playing video games, from ‘low gamers’ (0-5 hours per week) to ‘moderate gamers’ (5-10 hours) and ‘high gamers’ (10+ hours per week).

The team found while low and moderate gamers reported similar health outcomes, results worsened dramatically once a young person’s gaming exceeded 10 hours a week.

Professor Mario Siervo, from the Curtin School of Population Health, said the findings suggested excessive gaming was the key issue, rather than gaming itself.

“What stood out was students gaming up to 10 hours a week all looked very similar in terms of diet, sleep and body weight,” Professor Siervo said.

“The real differences emerged in those gaming more than 10 hours a week, who showed clear divergence from the rest of the sample.”

The study found a decline in diet quality once gaming exceeded 10 hours per week, with a greater prevalence of obesity in the high gamers group, compared to the low and moderate gamers.

High gamers had a median body mass index (BMI) of 26.3kg/m², compared to the healthy range of 22.2kg/m² and 22.8kg/m² for low and moderate gamers respectively.

“Each additional hour of gaming per week was linked to a decline in diet quality, even after accounting for stress, physical activity and other lifestyle factors,” Professor Siervo said.

All groups reported generally poor sleep quality, but moderate and high gamers scored worse than low gamers, with gaming hours showing a significant link to sleep disruption.

“This study doesn’t prove gaming causes these issues, but it shows a clear pattern that excessive gaming may be linked to an increase in health risk factors,” Professor Siervo said.

“Our data suggests low and moderate gaming is generally fine, but excessive gaming may crowd out healthy habits such as eating a balanced diet, sleeping properly and staying active.

“Because university habits often follow people into adulthood, healthier routines such as taking breaks from gaming, avoiding playing games late at night and choosing healthier snacks may help improve their overall wellbeing.”