Doctor to Athletes: No Videogames Before Competition

Forget the old adage about not having sex before big games; a British doctor is now advising athletes to avoid playing videogames in advance of a competition.

Dr. Marco Cardinale, a PhD and head of the British Olympic Association’s Sports, Science and Research arm, took to his blog to discuss the topic, noting that athletes can now take their games and movies everywhere thanks to portable electronics.

While some might think that the diversions of such entertainment might help athletes avoid the trappings, of, say, city nightlife, Cardinale hinges his advice on a premise that light exposure from such electronics could impact an athlete’s sleep patterns (especially when in different time zones) and on a group of studies that examined the physiological effects of games.

Among the research he cited:

Children playing for 60 minutes Need for Speed—Most Wanted presented impaired sleep patterns and a reduction in verbal cognitive performance.

The Dr. offered four suggestions:

1) If your are travelling to train and compete and are crossing time zones, avoid using your laptop, DVD player, Ipod and similar tools and video games devices during the night. Get back to sleep!

2) If you are training and or competing the following day, avoid all of the above the night before such activities (training and competing) take place

3) Recovery time is meant to be for rest and piece. You don’t want to play street fighter with your best mate and have your blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels go sky high because you lose!

4) There is a time and place and most of all a duration for your gaming and computing activities, make sure you don’t negatively affect your performance because of that!

Of course there’s also the additional possibility of an athlete playing videogames so much that their significant other snaps and throws in the towel.