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Acute Effects of Esports on the Cardiovascular System and Energy Expenditure in Amateur Esports Players

INTRODUCTION: Esports is practiced by millions of people worldwide every day. On a professional level, esports has been proven to have a high stress potential and is sometimes considered equivalent to traditional sporting activities. While traditional sports have health-promoting effects through mus...

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Autores principales: Zimmer, Rebecca T., Haupt, Sandra, Heidenreich, Heiko, Schmidt, Walter F. J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8961871/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35359501
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.824006
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author Zimmer, Rebecca T.
Haupt, Sandra
Heidenreich, Heiko
Schmidt, Walter F. J.
author_facet Zimmer, Rebecca T.
Haupt, Sandra
Heidenreich, Heiko
Schmidt, Walter F. J.
author_sort Zimmer, Rebecca T.
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Esports is practiced by millions of people worldwide every day. On a professional level, esports has been proven to have a high stress potential and is sometimes considered equivalent to traditional sporting activities. While traditional sports have health-promoting effects through muscle activity and increased energy expenditure, amateur esports could represent a purely sedentary activity, which would carry potentially harmful effects when practiced regularly. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the acute effects of esports on the cardiovascular system and energy expenditure in amateur esports players to show whether esports can be considered as physical strain or mental stress or whether amateur esports has to be seen as purely sedentary behavior. METHODS: Thirty male subjects participated in a 30-min gaming session, playing the soccer simulation game FIFA 20 or the tactical, first-person multiplayer shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Respiratory and cardiovascular parameters, as well as energy expenditure, blood glucose, lactate, and cortisol, were determined pre-, during, and post-gaming. RESULTS: There were no significant changes in oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide output, energy expenditure, stroke volume, or lactate levels. Heart rate, blood glucose and cortisol decreased through the intervention until reaching their minimum levels 10 min post-gaming (Cortisol(pre): 3.1 ± 2.9 ng/ml, Cortisol(post): 2.2 ± 2.3 ng/ml, p < 0.01; HR(min0.5): 82 ± 11 bpm, HR(post): 74 ± 13 bpm, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: A 30-min esports intervention does not positively affect energy expenditure or metabolism in amateur esports players. Therefore, it cannot provide the same health-promoting effects as traditional sports participation, but could in the long-term rather cause the same potentially health-damaging effects as purely sedentary behavior. However, it does not trigger a negative stress response in the players. Deliberate physical activity and exercise routines adapted to these demands should therefore be part of the daily life of amateur esports players.
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spelling pubmed-89618712022-03-30 Acute Effects of Esports on the Cardiovascular System and Energy Expenditure in Amateur Esports Players Zimmer, Rebecca T. Haupt, Sandra Heidenreich, Heiko Schmidt, Walter F. J. Front Sports Act Living Sports and Active Living INTRODUCTION: Esports is practiced by millions of people worldwide every day. On a professional level, esports has been proven to have a high stress potential and is sometimes considered equivalent to traditional sporting activities. While traditional sports have health-promoting effects through muscle activity and increased energy expenditure, amateur esports could represent a purely sedentary activity, which would carry potentially harmful effects when practiced regularly. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the acute effects of esports on the cardiovascular system and energy expenditure in amateur esports players to show whether esports can be considered as physical strain or mental stress or whether amateur esports has to be seen as purely sedentary behavior. METHODS: Thirty male subjects participated in a 30-min gaming session, playing the soccer simulation game FIFA 20 or the tactical, first-person multiplayer shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Respiratory and cardiovascular parameters, as well as energy expenditure, blood glucose, lactate, and cortisol, were determined pre-, during, and post-gaming. RESULTS: There were no significant changes in oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide output, energy expenditure, stroke volume, or lactate levels. Heart rate, blood glucose and cortisol decreased through the intervention until reaching their minimum levels 10 min post-gaming (Cortisol(pre): 3.1 ± 2.9 ng/ml, Cortisol(post): 2.2 ± 2.3 ng/ml, p < 0.01; HR(min0.5): 82 ± 11 bpm, HR(post): 74 ± 13 bpm, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: A 30-min esports intervention does not positively affect energy expenditure or metabolism in amateur esports players. Therefore, it cannot provide the same health-promoting effects as traditional sports participation, but could in the long-term rather cause the same potentially health-damaging effects as purely sedentary behavior. However, it does not trigger a negative stress response in the players. Deliberate physical activity and exercise routines adapted to these demands should therefore be part of the daily life of amateur esports players. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-03-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8961871/ /pubmed/35359501 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.824006 Text en Copyright © 2022 Zimmer, Haupt, Heidenreich and Schmidt. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Sports and Active Living
Zimmer, Rebecca T.
Haupt, Sandra
Heidenreich, Heiko
Schmidt, Walter F. J.
Acute Effects of Esports on the Cardiovascular System and Energy Expenditure in Amateur Esports Players
title Acute Effects of Esports on the Cardiovascular System and Energy Expenditure in Amateur Esports Players
title_full Acute Effects of Esports on the Cardiovascular System and Energy Expenditure in Amateur Esports Players
title_fullStr Acute Effects of Esports on the Cardiovascular System and Energy Expenditure in Amateur Esports Players
title_full_unstemmed Acute Effects of Esports on the Cardiovascular System and Energy Expenditure in Amateur Esports Players
title_short Acute Effects of Esports on the Cardiovascular System and Energy Expenditure in Amateur Esports Players
title_sort acute effects of esports on the cardiovascular system and energy expenditure in amateur esports players
topic Sports and Active Living
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8961871/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35359501
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.824006
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