Already last year, the first eSport Study 2019 provided a comprehensive picture of health behaviour in eSports. This year’s survey focused on the topics “well-being” and “recovery”, on which we interviewed over 1200 eSports amateurs and professionals. The findings of the survey were presented at a press conference on February 12th.
Professor Dr. Ingo Froböse, Head of the Institute of Movement Therapy and Movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation at the German Sport University Cologne, presented the findings of the eSport-Study 2020. He was supported by Rolf Buchwitz, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of the AOK Rhineland/Hamburg.
First things first: the vast majority of those surveyed rate their own health as good or very good. However, the picture is much more mixed when it comes to the stress levels of eSports players. Whereas some 2 percent suffer from high levels of stress, about 47 percent say they suffer only moderate levels of stress. Similar results occur when they are questioned about their psychological well-being, and here too there is still room for improvement.
It is noticeable that the more time is invested in gaming, the worse the individual health perception tends to be. Furthermore, gaming has an effect on sleep behavior. According to the study, one player in six often stays up later than planned to play games. While eSport players sleep almost 40 minutes less on weekdays than the average German population, they sleep roughly one hour longer at the weekend. Yet only a mere 14 percent feel that they have too little sleep.
The results on physical activity are positive: around 80 percent of all respondents meet or exceed the World Health Organization’s exercise recommendations of 2.5 hours per week. This represents an increase of 16 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Physical activity is particularly important in view of the long periods of sitting of eSport players. While eSports professionals play an average of five to six hours a day, lower performance level players still sit two to three hours a day in front of consoles and computers, not to mention the hours they spend with live streaming, music and use of messenger services. Furthermore, the results show that the classic media such as TV and print no longer play a major role in the target group.
The detailed research report can be found under Research Findings (only in german).
