Heatwaves & Shooters = Health Risk

[Halloween Jack]

Hi Guys,

Just thought I'd share this experience with you.

Been heavily into Ibara and Raiden 2 on my Jap PS2, and needless to say have been banished (by her indoors) into the back bedroom to play these titles - must free up the TV in the lounge for Coronation Street, right?

...but to cut to the chase, towards the end of May, I began to experience some pretty harsh side-effects from prolonged play - major (major!!)headaches, crackling at the base of the neck, disorientation, fatigue, nausea, flickering eyelids, spasms in sleep etc

On returning from my hol's (after a week of rest) I decided to give it one more go, and as a result experieneced a particularly bad attack in the night. So fearful for my long term health, I stopped playing games (shooters, SNK, handhelds - the whole lot) and the symptoms began to ease - but not go away entirely.

So over to the quack and guess what was diagnosed? DEHYDRATION!!!!
Small back bedroom gets very hot in the summer, shooters make you sweat a lot in the summer, holiday travel dries out the body and there is no fluid intake during the night - throw in a few sticky days in the office, coffee, beers and cola's, and you have a recipe for disaster.

I've now decided to quit playing until the winter months arrive, and in the meantime, drink a minimum of 4 litres of water a day and eat plenty of crisps for salt intake (Doctor's orders!!)

Bit of a boring post, but I wanted to share my experiences with you, just in case anyone else out there was suffering from the side effects of a sweaty wrestle with the Rose Sisters


Cheers

Halloween Jack

[DC906270]

sweet jesus, sounds like Ibara has really taken it out of you

[Dave_K.]

Wow, quite a lesson learned! Its been well into the triple digits where I live, so bad that I had decided to cancel a local shmupmeet. Thankfully temps dropped 28 degrees over just a few days, so the meet is now back on (actually its tomorrow), but I'm pretty serious about ending it early if my garage overheats. I'll be sure to stock plenty of bottled water.

[Halloween Jack]

Sounds a plan Dave_K, but don't forget the crisps. Flushing lots of water through your system removes a lot of the body's salt content - which in itself is a danger.

Here in the UK, the GP's are dealing with 20 cases of dehydration a day - we're due to hit triple figures next month too - the Brits just aren't used to this

Good luck with the meet.

Cheers

Halloween Jack

[Frederik]

Everyone here in germany tells you that you should drink enough water. Yesterday I drank approx. 5 litres of water; what I don`t see is the connection to your gaming - maybe it takes away the attention to your bodily needs. Tube radiation is one of the reasons I quit TV-console playing and switched to handhelds and MAME on my cheapo TFT, I just got headaches too easily from games like Katamari alone; and given that you have to stare at the screen even more concentrated in shmups that was a huge problem for me.

If you have the spare cash, you should consider buying a VGA box or something to hook your consoles up to a non-tube monitor. While my monitor is kinda blurry, I can play a LOT more than on tubes. Not to mention that I can get closer to the screen this way. Apart from that, shooters are best played in moderation: Up to an hour a day works better for me than 3 hours once a week. Take breaks in your play. THis sounds like in one of those booklets that come with Nintendo games, but there is a good reason for this. Not to mention nasty things like carpal tunnel syndrome!

[Halloween Jack]

Well I think that the connection with gaming relates to:

a) where the hardware is located - I moved to a room in the house that received more sun-light, and was of limited space.

b) the impact of playing high-adrenaline games in a particularly hot environment (i.e are you likely to dehydrate your body quicker if playing for prolonged periods- I perspire while playing!)

Must admit that I took all of the Nintendo warnings with a pinch of salt - and I'm now beginning to think that this was a misatke.

I then think of the ICC champs who see DDJ and Ibara through to a close, and wonder whether they take a fifteen minute break for each hour played. Who knows?

Cheers

Halloween Jack

[system11]

For the benefit of those who probably don't know, the UK has been in the grip of a pretty serious heatwave for a while now. Where I live the temperature has been a constant 30-35C, with medium to high humidity and virtually no breeze.

I've been doing nothing particularly strenuous, but ended up having to take a day off work due to dehydration. Didn't realise that at the time, but when I was sat at home with nothing to do feeling really shit (headaches, nausea, etc), I couldn't stop drinking water, next morning - feeling fine.

What happened to Jack doesn't surprise me - people think that gaming is 100% sedentiary, and much of it is, but those who have walked away from an arcade game breathing more heavily with a racing pulse, know different. In the summer heat I've been making sure there's a fan pointed at the cab.

[Turrican]

For the benefit of those who probably don't know, the UK has been in the grip of a pretty serious heatwave for a while now. Where I live the temperature has been a constant 30-35C, with medium to high humidity and virtually no breeze.

Your serious heatwave is our norm.

[Ord]

For the benefit of those who probably don't know, the UK has been in the grip of a pretty serious heatwave for a while now. Where I live the temperature has been a constant 30-35C, with medium to high humidity and virtually no breeze.

Your serious heatwave is our norm.

Yes, but we're really not used to it. Summer in the UK usually involves a lot of rain and temperatures between 20-25C
I took the day off work last week because of a migrain which I never suffer from. I don't know if it was dehydration but it was a real cluster fuck of a headache.

[Klatrymadon]

crackling at the base of the neck

I get that, sometimes. Good to know what's causing it - cheers. My room is always far hotter than any other room in the house, too, so it's definitely a congruous revelation!

Here in the UK, the GP's are dealing with 20 cases of dehydration a day - we're due to hit triple figures next month too - the Brits just aren't used to this

Aye, one of my chums who lives in the midlands was saying that they're experiencing really strange tropical conditions down there. Apparently they've even had storms during the worst of the heat, and seen rapid fits of lightning last 5 minutes or more!

Thankfully I've been playing a lot of ESPgaluda and Salamander 2 lately, which don't get me anywhere near as hot and bothered as Ibara does.

[Halloween Jack]

Aye, one of my chums who lives in the midlands was saying that they're experiencing really strange tropical conditions down there. Apparently they've even had storms during the worst of the heat, and seen rapid fits of lightning last 5 minutes or more!

Amen to that - there's some really funny stuff happening here. Leicester has been subject to the worst storms I've ever seen - street lights on in mid-afternoon, winds that threaten to rip your garage doors off and lightening strikes that beggar belief.

34 degrees in my bedroom at midnight - all very strange, even by UK weather standards - roll on the winter, cold dark nights, guiness, radiators, and a tated monitor

Halloween Jack

[Klatrymadon]

Hell yeah. I haven't been able to sleep the past few nights!

We need a Monty Burns style satellite dish to periodically block out the sun's rays for a few vital hours of comfortable shmup practice.

[cigsthecat]

That's a shame, but you can easily solve your problems with

a) Air Conditioning

b) A glass of water by your side

It's hot where I live too.

[Icarus]

I play at night, so thankfully I don't have that problem. But I drink a lot of water during the day, since its uncharacteristically hot over here this year. -_-;;

[system11]

a) Air Conditioning

There's the problem - houses over here simply don't have it. It's considered a luxury, and still quite expensive even for portable units. I remember when I was a kid, we didn't need it.

[Halloween Jack]

That's a shame, but you can easily solve your problems with

a) Air Conditioning

b) A glass of water by your side

It's hot where I live too.

Depends upon how dehydrated you are - even though you are drinking water, your body can still be dehydrating - its all about levels of fluid intake and fluid loss - speed of absorption is important too.

I always have a pint glass of water by my side when playing, but in this instance it didn't make an ounce of difference.

Cheers

Halloween Jack

[ASK]

a) Air Conditioning

There's the problem - houses over here simply don't have it. It's considered a luxury, and still quite expensive even for portable units. I remember when I was a kid, we didn't need it.

So is the UK classed as the Third World yet? I've never lived without some form of AC, usually central. Portable units can be picked up round here for quite cheap, especially considering how much you'll benefit from it.

[Frederik]

The main problem is that when you`re thirsty, it`s already too late. You have to drink even when NOT feeling thirsty. Especially a problem with old people, I remember that my grandfather drank very little in his last years; and convincing him that the body need 2-3 litres, in summer much more, was a hard to do.

[ASK]

The main problem is that when you`re thirsty, it`s already too late. You have to drink even when NOT feeling thirsty. Especially a problem with old people, I remember that my grandfather drank very little in his last years; and convincing him that the body need 2-3 litres, in summer much more, was a hard to do.

I find it useful to just have a bottle of water around me wherever I am. Keep one in my room because I'll definately wake up at some point during the night thirsty. Always keep one with me when I'm on my computer, at work or going out. I drink somewhere between 4-6 bottles on an average day, winter or summer.

I used to just drink pop/soda/cola/whatever-you-want-to-call-it non-stop, but after some stomach problems and a talk with my Doctor, called it quits and picked up water instead

Guess the trick is to just get yourself into a situation that forces you to only drink water, and then it just becomes habit

[Blade]

What about checking your TV's Heat output? That might be a factor as well..

I've used my PC Monitor as it has it's own cooling fan.

Speaking of cooling fans...it would behoove you to get one, even a simple agitator works, douse yourself with a little water and the combination is cooler than any air conditioning can produce.

It's especially nice after a cold shower.

[gameoverDude]

This coming Tuesday in OH, Weather Channel expects a 101 F heat index. Recent dewpoints have been around 71 F, something I usually associate with Louisiana. Usually, OH's dewpoints at this time of year are from 55-62 F.

Just for curiosity, I looked at Miami's dewpoint- 76 F. Gah!

I can tolerate a fair amount of heat, but extreme humidity will kick my ass at about any temperature. Once when I was at Kings Island last summer I had been playing Blade of Honor (Tsurugi) in the arcade while the Hurricane Dennis remnants threw down rain outside. Unfortunately, this gameroom didn't have a door, which let that muggy air come right on in. I felt halfway ready to pass out and had to quit playing for a little while.

Thank heavens for air conditioning.

[MovingTarget]

theres a feckin boiler in my bedroom, so tryin to sleep at nite can be a bitch even with the window wide open, sleepin on top of the covers in just ma boxers! Specially when av been workin my ass off in the sun all day

[dai jou bu]

let's see. In my bedroom, I have running:

- My Xbox 360 (used to be occasionally my Dreamcast before this)

- My PC

- Sometimes the laptop when I want to copy pictures to the 360

- Access point

- Oh yeah, my monitor.

Thank goodness for central air conditioning and my open door to allow air circulation.

[Andi]

I live in constant fear that my window air conditioner is going to fall from its perch and kill someone walking on the street below. I hardly ever turn it on because I think that it vibrating might wobble the screws loose or something...

Sure, it's hot as hell but air conditioning is not worth going to prison over.

[howmuchkeefe]

theres a feckin boiler in my bedroom, so tryin to sleep at nite can be a bitch even with the window wide open, sleepin on top of the covers in just ma boxers!

I definitely feel ya there... I've been getting 5-6 hours a sleep per night for the past month on account of the heat. Nothing but tossing and turning from 2AM to 5AM, when it finally cools down enough for me to get to sleep. It's a shame I have work at 6AM.

One of the worst things about hot weather, IMO.

[elvis]

a) Air Conditioning

There's the problem - houses over here simply don't have it. It's considered a luxury, and still quite expensive even for portable units. I remember when I was a kid, we didn't need it.

It's even worse here in Queensland (Australia). Our own power system can't keep up with the suddent 500% rise in air conditioning installs. Come summer time we have constant power issues, not to mention our storm season is getting worse and worse, bringing down trees and power lines.

Right now we are in the middle of "winter". I'm sitting here in my chair typing to you and it's 23 C (73 F) in the shade. I say again: middle of WINTER.

This summer's going to be a bastard over here. Any UK residents want to put up a family of 4 Aussies for 6 months come October?

[Bloodreign]

This coming Tuesday in OH, Weather Channel expects a 101 F heat index. Recent dewpoints have been around 71 F, something I usually associate with Louisiana. Usually, OH's dewpoints at this time of year are from 55-62 F.

Quoted for truth, Louisiana is pretty much a sauna this time of year, and pretty much every year for quite a while, but I swear as a kid temperatures weren't quite this bad at all. The combined heat/humidity is enough to keep you on your toes and always have water or a sports drink by you at all times, to help ensure you don't pass out from the heat or get heat stroke/exhaustion. And August approaches, the hottest month of the year, definitely not a time to have an outdoor job.

[DJ Incompetent]

It's gettin' a little nuts out in the Michigan Usa. Two small trees upset roads near my place. We get the pretty nasty heat for most the day then an interruption from a cloud-burst storm at some point. That's been going on the last few days. My Air Conditioning was actually giving me the headache today, so I tried to spin my junk tv to face outside as I fed a controller through a window and tried to play Strikers from my deck. Headache gone.

Worked ok until the rain came.
Rain was ok until it knocked out my power. Was on 1-7 too..

Got power back recently...in time to do homework. Ugh.

So was that Inconvenient Truth movie making any accurate explanations on these global heat waves recently, now that Al Gore is the resident environmental psychic for the next 5 months

Location: Lame Babyland

awesome.
How's the climate there?

[AAA]

erm... just drink more?
keep a big bottle by your side, then you won't have to get up from the gaming chair to get a drink.

[BulletMagnet]

keep a big bottle by your side, then you won't have to get up from the gaming chair to get a drink.

You will once it works its way through your system, and quick.