E-athletes’ lifestyle behaviors, physical activity habits, and overall health and wellbeing: a systematic review

Abstract

Background

E-sports is becoming increasingly popular; however, participation is not without risks. Certain lifestyle factors associated with gaming may have negative effects on the wellbeing of the players.

Objective

This systematic review of current studies of e-athletes’ health and wellbeing, primarily focused on athletes level of physical activity. This review also aimed to gain insight on potential health promotion and management strategies for e-gamers and e-athletes.

Method

Four online databases (Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and EBSCO) were searched for full-text English articles published between 2010 and April 2020. A total of six articles met the inclusion criteria and were included for review.

Results

From the six studies, five themes were identified: (1) demographics of e-sports; (2) e-athletes’ level of physical activity, compared to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines; (3) reasons to engage in physical activity; (4) physical training as a part of e-sport training; and (5) degree of sedentary time. Other findings included e-sports injuries reported by participants, broader aspects of health behaviors, along with proposals for multiple disciplinary team approaches to e-athlete management.

Conclusion

Despite the level of sedentary behavior and e-sports related injuries from the reviewed studies, the majority of e-athletes in the studies included met WHO physical activity guidelines with health promotion as primary motivation. Other health behaviors (sleep and diet) are particularly relevant to e-athletes. More research is needed to better understand this population's health-related behavior and habits to better establish their wellbeing and health risks.

Keywords:

• E-athletes
• e-sports
• physical activity
• health management
• physiotherapy

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Hayden Kilgour for proposing this area for a review. We also would like to thank Donna Tietjens (University of Otago, Wellington Campus Librarian) for providing us with our search strategies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

The authors completed this review as final year degree students at the University of Otago, during the COVID-19 lockdown period in New Zealand. Professor G David Baxter was supervisor for the work, and heads the Centre for Men’s Health at the University.