Dawn is breaking, but you haven’t slept all night.
It’s perfectly understandable when you’re battling the Great Dragon of Zorg. Just a few more lives, and you’ll surely send him plummeting through misty clouds in his final defeat. Then the kingdom will be yours, and you can catch some ZZZs, or find another quest to begin, whichever seems more pressing at the moment.
Wait: When was the last time you slept a full night? Or held a regular job? Or cleaned your room?
If this scenario seems a little too familiar, then you might fit the description of one of the World Health Organization’s newest defined mental health conditions: gaming disorder. Yes, the WHO is weighing in on video gaming in its latest version of the International Classification of Diseases publication.
Telltale signs are prolonged, significant disruption of key life activities — social interaction, academics, physical activity and healthful sleep and eating habits, for example. The definition states that such disruption would last at least a year. WHO also notes that most gamers don’t fit the profile.
But defining the term could help raise awareness and might promote growth of treatment programs to help gamers who get out of control. However, some mental health experts criticize the move as alarmist and say it will cause unnecessary stigma.
For people who do have the disorder, medications and psychological therapy are the best treatments. Obviously, it’s better to avoid the condition in the first place.
So, remember to sleep, eat, move, work and make friends while you’re striving to defeat that Dragon. Don’t let the digital Dragon give way to a bigger one, known to the world as gaming disorder.