Boy Plays Video Games 40 Hours, Dies
A teenager in Taiwan was found dead in an Internet café after playing video games for 40 consecutive hours. The teen, known only by the surname Chuang, collapsed during a marathon session of playing Diablo 3.
According to reports, Chuang was found by workers in the café; he appeared to be resting on a table, and when an attendant woke him, he got up and walked a few steps before collapsing. Sources say he had not eaten in two days, which could account for his weakness.
Doctors have theorized that sitting for that long of a time could have caused cardiovascular problems. Dr. James A. Levine of the Mayo Clinic, has written about the dangers of sitting for too long. "One recent study compared adults who spent less than two hours a day in front of the TV or other screen-based entertainment with those who logged more than four hours a day of recreational screen time," Levine noted.
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"Those with greater screen time had a nearly 50 percent increased risk of death from any cause and about a 125 percent increased risk of events associated with cardiovascular disease, such as chest pain (angina) or heart attack," Levine explained.
It's no wonder, then, that the young man collapsed after sitting and playing for 40 hours straight. However, he could have done one simple thing to immediately decrease his risk for cardiovascular problems: stand and take a short walk. According to Levine, "The impact of movement-even leisurely movement-can be profound."
Unfortunately, Chuang is not the only person to have fallen victim to long hours in front of a TV screen. In February, another Taiwan man was reported dead after playing video games for 23 hours. Reports state that his arms were still reaching for the keyboard when he was found. His cause of death was determined to be cardiac arrest.
