WoW and your health

Yesterday one guildie told me that they may have difficulty raiding because of a health problem - they had a deep vein thrombosis and is now on warfarin!  You often read about inactivity and people dying from playing long hours of computer or console games from pulmonary emboli/DVT but I never thought that it would be someone I know.

There is that story in the paper currently about the 20 year old who died from a PE after 12 hours of XBox gaming sessions.  The number of people who have shown me that article...sheesh.

And of course we have a guild leader with RSI/tendonitis in his gaming hand requiring extended leave from raiding/gaming.  Fue is back though, but he often has to quit raiding early or not raid because his hand is sore.

And of course there is WoW/MMOs and your (mental) health.  A chinese couple sold their 3 children to raise money for their gaming addiction.  When they were arrested they said that they didn't know that it was illegal to do that, since they didn't want the children anyway.  Why don't people like that use contraception FFS.

And of course WoW was the cover used by Anders Behring Breivik (Norwegian massacre) for his extended periods of isolation while he played Modern Warfare 2 to learn to kill people better.  Though this doesn't mean that playing WoW made him kill people... or that playing WoW makes you kill people or want to massacre people.  Well, maybe it does want to make you massacre some murlocs and gnolls....

So here are some simple exercises you can do at your desk/computer to help prevent DVT... but of course the best way is to keep moving and active and avoid long periods of inactivity.

Image courtesy of bendandmend.com.au

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