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Xbox Healthy Gaming Guide
Don't over-do it! Play it safe and know the guidelines to healthy gaming.
This guide is designed to help you be comfortable while using your Xbox to play video games. It may also help you reduce your risk of experiencing painful and disabling injuries or disorders described in the following Health Warning.
Health Warning
Use of game controllers, keyboards, mice, or other electronic input devices may be linked to serious injuries or disorders.
When playing video games, as with many activities, you may experience occasional discomfort in your hands, arms, shoulders, neck, or other parts of your body. However, if you experience symptoms such as persistent or recurring discomfort, pain, throbbing, aching, tingling, numbness, burning sensation, or stiffness, DO NOT IGNORE THESE WARNING SIGNS. PROMPTLY SEE A QUALIFIED HEALTH PROFESSIONAL, even if symptoms occur when you are not playing a video game. Symptoms such as these can be associated with painful and sometimes permanently disabling injuries or disorders of the nerves, muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and other parts of the body. These musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) include carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, vibration syndromes, and other conditions.
While researchers are not yet able to answer many questions about MSDs, there is general agreement that many factors may be linked to their occurrence, including: medical and physical conditions, stress and how one copes with it, overall health, and how a person positions and uses their body during work and other activities (including playing a video game). Some studies suggest that the amount of time a person performs an activity may also be a factor.
Some guidelines that may help you work and play more comfortably and possibly reduce your risk of experiencing an MSD can be found in the following sections of this Guide. These guidelines address topics such as:
Positioning yourself to use comfortable, not awkward postures
Keeping your hands, fingers and other body parts relaxed
Taking breaks
Developing a healthy lifestyle.
If you have questions about how your own lifestyle, activities, or medical or physical condition may be related to MSDs, see a qualified health professional.
For information about arranging your gaming area and developing habits that may help to reduce your risk of experiencing an MSD, read this "Healthy Xbox Gaming Guide." Because there are a variety of factors that may contribute to MSDs, this guide cannot provide everything you need to know to prevent an MSD or reduce your risk of experiencing one. For some people, following the suggestions may reduce their risk of experiencing an MSD. For others, it may not. However, many people are likely to experience greater comfort when following these suggestions. Keep in mind that this guide is not a substitute for the advice of a qualified health professional. If you have questions about how your own lifestyle, activities, or medical or physical condition may be related to MSDs, see a qualified health professional.
Position Yourself
Using your body in comfortable, not awkward, postures is important, whether you're working or playing. Not only can this affect your overall performance, but also it can influence how comfortable you are while playing video games and may help you avoid MSDs. Keep in mind that changing your posture during extended gaming sessions may also help you avoid discomfort and fatigue.
When playing video games, adapt your surroundings and arrange your equipment to promote a comfortable and relaxed body posture. Because everyone has a unique body size and since many factors affect your comfort, we cannot tell you exactly how to set up your area to avoid discomfort; however, the following suggestions may help to provide you with a more comfortable environment.
To support your back, consider the following:
Choose a chair or seat that provides support for your lower back and allows you to assume a comfortable and natural body posture.
To promote comfortable leg postures, consider the following:
Clear away items from your legs to allow comfortable leg positions and movement.
To promote comfortable shoulder and arm postures, consider the following:
Your upper arms should fall relaxed at your sides.
To promote proper wrist and finger postures, consider the following:
Keep your wrists straight while holding and using controllers. Avoid bending your wrists up, down, or to the sides.
To minimize neck bending and twisting, consider the following:
Position yourself and/or the television so that you do not have to tilt your head up or down or side-to-side for extended periods.
To minimize eyestrain, consider the following:
Avoid glare. Place your television away from light sources that produce glare, or use window blinds to control light levels.
Adjust your television's brightness and contrast to levels that are comfortable for you.
Go Lightly
Physical forces continuously interact with our bodies. We may only think of high-impact forces, such as car crashes, as injuring our bodies. However, low forces may also result in injuries, discomfort, and fatigue if they are repeated or experienced over long periods of time.
Consider the following types of low forces:
Dynamic force, or a force that you exert through movement. For example, pressing buttons on a gaming controller or the keys of a computer keyboard.
Static force, or a force that you maintain for a period of time. For example, holding your gaming controller or cradling the phone.
Contact force, or pressure that occurs when you rest on an edge or hard surface. For example, resting your wrists on the edge of your desk, table or other hard surface.
Consider the following suggestions to reduce the effects of low forces on your body:
Press gaming controller buttons with a light touch, keeping your hands and fingers relaxed, as it takes little effort to activate these buttons. Also, use a light touch when using control sticks or pads on a gaming controller.
Avoid resting your palms or wrists on any type of surface while using game controllers.
Relax your arms and hands when you're not actually using game controllers. See "Taking Breaks" section below for additional information.
Hold the game controller with a relaxed hand. Do not grip the game controller more tightly than is necessary.
Take Breaks
Taking breaks can go a long way in helping your body recover from any activity and may help you avoid MSDs. The length and frequency of breaks that are right for you depend on the type of activity you are doing. Stopping the activity and relaxing is one way to take a break, but there are other ways, also. These include:
Changing tasks can help some muscles relax while others remain productive. For example, you might sit while playing video games but stand when not playing.
Using different methods to accomplish the same task. For example, using the controller pad instead of the control stick.
Relaxing your arms and hands while watching others play or during cut scenes, replays, or other pauses within a game.
Learning about software and hardware features by reading the information that came with your game discs and hardware products.
Be Healthy
A healthy lifestyle can help you perform and enjoy your everyday activities, including the time spent playing video games. For overall good health, consider the following:
Eat a balanced diet and get adequate rest.
Exercise for overall fitness to give strength and flexibility to your body. Keep in mind that you should consult a qualified health professional to help you choose the stretches and exercises that are right for you.
Learn to manage stress.
See a qualified health professional if you have questions about how your medical and physical conditions may be related to MSDs. While researchers are not yet able to answer many questions about MSDs, there is general agreement that many factors may be linked to their occurrence, including previous injuries, diabetes, hormonal changes (such as pregnancy), and rheumatoid arthritis.
Keep healthy.
Don't over-do it! Play it safe and know the guidelines to healthy gaming.
This guide is designed to help you be comfortable while using your Xbox to play video games. It may also help you reduce your risk of experiencing painful and disabling injuries or disorders described in the following Health Warning.
Health Warning
Use of game controllers, keyboards, mice, or other electronic input devices may be linked to serious injuries or disorders.
When playing video games, as with many activities, you may experience occasional discomfort in your hands, arms, shoulders, neck, or other parts of your body. However, if you experience symptoms such as persistent or recurring discomfort, pain, throbbing, aching, tingling, numbness, burning sensation, or stiffness, DO NOT IGNORE THESE WARNING SIGNS. PROMPTLY SEE A QUALIFIED HEALTH PROFESSIONAL, even if symptoms occur when you are not playing a video game. Symptoms such as these can be associated with painful and sometimes permanently disabling injuries or disorders of the nerves, muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and other parts of the body. These musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) include carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, vibration syndromes, and other conditions.
While researchers are not yet able to answer many questions about MSDs, there is general agreement that many factors may be linked to their occurrence, including: medical and physical conditions, stress and how one copes with it, overall health, and how a person positions and uses their body during work and other activities (including playing a video game). Some studies suggest that the amount of time a person performs an activity may also be a factor.
Some guidelines that may help you work and play more comfortably and possibly reduce your risk of experiencing an MSD can be found in the following sections of this Guide. These guidelines address topics such as:
Positioning yourself to use comfortable, not awkward postures
Keeping your hands, fingers and other body parts relaxed
Taking breaks
Developing a healthy lifestyle.
If you have questions about how your own lifestyle, activities, or medical or physical condition may be related to MSDs, see a qualified health professional.
For information about arranging your gaming area and developing habits that may help to reduce your risk of experiencing an MSD, read this "Healthy Xbox Gaming Guide." Because there are a variety of factors that may contribute to MSDs, this guide cannot provide everything you need to know to prevent an MSD or reduce your risk of experiencing one. For some people, following the suggestions may reduce their risk of experiencing an MSD. For others, it may not. However, many people are likely to experience greater comfort when following these suggestions. Keep in mind that this guide is not a substitute for the advice of a qualified health professional. If you have questions about how your own lifestyle, activities, or medical or physical condition may be related to MSDs, see a qualified health professional.
Position Yourself
Using your body in comfortable, not awkward, postures is important, whether you're working or playing. Not only can this affect your overall performance, but also it can influence how comfortable you are while playing video games and may help you avoid MSDs. Keep in mind that changing your posture during extended gaming sessions may also help you avoid discomfort and fatigue.
When playing video games, adapt your surroundings and arrange your equipment to promote a comfortable and relaxed body posture. Because everyone has a unique body size and since many factors affect your comfort, we cannot tell you exactly how to set up your area to avoid discomfort; however, the following suggestions may help to provide you with a more comfortable environment.
To support your back, consider the following:
Choose a chair or seat that provides support for your lower back and allows you to assume a comfortable and natural body posture.
To promote comfortable leg postures, consider the following:
Clear away items from your legs to allow comfortable leg positions and movement.
To promote comfortable shoulder and arm postures, consider the following:
Your upper arms should fall relaxed at your sides.
To promote proper wrist and finger postures, consider the following:
Keep your wrists straight while holding and using controllers. Avoid bending your wrists up, down, or to the sides.
To minimize neck bending and twisting, consider the following:
Position yourself and/or the television so that you do not have to tilt your head up or down or side-to-side for extended periods.
To minimize eyestrain, consider the following:
Avoid glare. Place your television away from light sources that produce glare, or use window blinds to control light levels.
Adjust your television's brightness and contrast to levels that are comfortable for you.
Go Lightly
Physical forces continuously interact with our bodies. We may only think of high-impact forces, such as car crashes, as injuring our bodies. However, low forces may also result in injuries, discomfort, and fatigue if they are repeated or experienced over long periods of time.
Consider the following types of low forces:
Dynamic force, or a force that you exert through movement. For example, pressing buttons on a gaming controller or the keys of a computer keyboard.
Static force, or a force that you maintain for a period of time. For example, holding your gaming controller or cradling the phone.
Contact force, or pressure that occurs when you rest on an edge or hard surface. For example, resting your wrists on the edge of your desk, table or other hard surface.
Consider the following suggestions to reduce the effects of low forces on your body:
Press gaming controller buttons with a light touch, keeping your hands and fingers relaxed, as it takes little effort to activate these buttons. Also, use a light touch when using control sticks or pads on a gaming controller.
Avoid resting your palms or wrists on any type of surface while using game controllers.
Relax your arms and hands when you're not actually using game controllers. See "Taking Breaks" section below for additional information.
Hold the game controller with a relaxed hand. Do not grip the game controller more tightly than is necessary.
Take Breaks
Taking breaks can go a long way in helping your body recover from any activity and may help you avoid MSDs. The length and frequency of breaks that are right for you depend on the type of activity you are doing. Stopping the activity and relaxing is one way to take a break, but there are other ways, also. These include:
Changing tasks can help some muscles relax while others remain productive. For example, you might sit while playing video games but stand when not playing.
Using different methods to accomplish the same task. For example, using the controller pad instead of the control stick.
Relaxing your arms and hands while watching others play or during cut scenes, replays, or other pauses within a game.
Learning about software and hardware features by reading the information that came with your game discs and hardware products.
Be Healthy
A healthy lifestyle can help you perform and enjoy your everyday activities, including the time spent playing video games. For overall good health, consider the following:
Eat a balanced diet and get adequate rest.
Exercise for overall fitness to give strength and flexibility to your body. Keep in mind that you should consult a qualified health professional to help you choose the stretches and exercises that are right for you.
Learn to manage stress.
See a qualified health professional if you have questions about how your medical and physical conditions may be related to MSDs. While researchers are not yet able to answer many questions about MSDs, there is general agreement that many factors may be linked to their occurrence, including previous injuries, diabetes, hormonal changes (such as pregnancy), and rheumatoid arthritis.
Keep healthy.
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this seems like a copy from somewhere.
Yeh good, nice one.
Xbox Healthy Gaming Guide
Don't over-do it! Play it safe and know the guidelines to healthy gaming.
This guide is designed to help you be comfortable while using your Xbox to play video games. It may also help you reduce your risk of experiencing painful and disabling injuries or disorders described in the following Health Warning.
Health Warning
Use of game controllers, keyboards, mice, or other electronic input devices may be linked to serious injuries or disorders.
When playing video games, as with many activities, you may experience occasional discomfort in your hands, arms, shoulders, neck, or other parts of your body. However, if you experience symptoms such as persistent or recurring discomfort, pain, throbbing, aching, tingling, numbness, burning sensation, or stiffness, DO NOT IGNORE THESE WARNING SIGNS. PROMPTLY SEE A QUALIFIED HEALTH PROFESSIONAL, even if symptoms occur when you are not playing a video game. Symptoms such as these can be associated with painful and sometimes permanently disabling injuries or disorders of the nerves, muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and other parts of the body. These musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) include carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, vibration syndromes, and other conditions.
While researchers are not yet able to answer many questions about MSDs, there is general agreement that many factors may be linked to their occurrence, including: medical and physical conditions, stress and how one copes with it, overall health, and how a person positions and uses their body during work and other activities (including playing a video game). Some studies suggest that the amount of time a person performs an activity may also be a factor.
Some guidelines that may help you work and play more comfortably and possibly reduce your risk of experiencing an MSD can be found in the following sections of this Guide. These guidelines address topics such as:
Positioning yourself to use comfortable, not awkward postures
Keeping your hands, fingers and other body parts relaxed
Taking breaks
Developing a healthy lifestyle.
If you have questions about how your own lifestyle, activities, or medical or physical condition may be related to MSDs, see a qualified health professional.
For information about arranging your gaming area and developing habits that may help to reduce your risk of experiencing an MSD, read this "Healthy Xbox Gaming Guide." Because there are a variety of factors that may contribute to MSDs, this guide cannot provide everything you need to know to prevent an MSD or reduce your risk of experiencing one. For some people, following the suggestions may reduce their risk of experiencing an MSD. For others, it may not. However, many people are likely to experience greater comfort when following these suggestions. Keep in mind that this guide is not a substitute for the advice of a qualified health professional. If you have questions about how your own lifestyle, activities, or medical or physical condition may be related to MSDs, see a qualified health professional.
Position Yourself
Using your body in comfortable, not awkward, postures is important, whether you're working or playing. Not only can this affect your overall performance, but also it can influence how comfortable you are while playing video games and may help you avoid MSDs. Keep in mind that changing your posture during extended gaming sessions may also help you avoid discomfort and fatigue.
When playing video games, adapt your surroundings and arrange your equipment to promote a comfortable and relaxed body posture. Because everyone has a unique body size and since many factors affect your comfort, we cannot tell you exactly how to set up your area to avoid discomfort; however, the following suggestions may help to provide you with a more comfortable environment.
To support your back, consider the following:
Choose a chair or seat that provides support for your lower back and allows you to assume a comfortable and natural body posture.
To promote comfortable leg postures, consider the following:
Clear away items from your legs to allow comfortable leg positions and movement.
To promote comfortable shoulder and arm postures, consider the following:
Your upper arms should fall relaxed at your sides.
To promote proper wrist and finger postures, consider the following:
Keep your wrists straight while holding and using controllers. Avoid bending your wrists up, down, or to the sides.
To minimize neck bending and twisting, consider the following:
Position yourself and/or the television so that you do not have to tilt your head up or down or side-to-side for extended periods.
To minimize eyestrain, consider the following:
Avoid glare. Place your television away from light sources that produce glare, or use window blinds to control light levels.
Adjust your television's brightness and contrast to levels that are comfortable for you.
Go Lightly
Physical forces continuously interact with our bodies. We may only think of high-impact forces, such as car crashes, as injuring our bodies. However, low forces may also result in injuries, discomfort, and fatigue if they are repeated or experienced over long periods of time.
Consider the following types of low forces:
Dynamic force, or a force that you exert through movement. For example, pressing buttons on a gaming controller or the keys of a computer keyboard.
Static force, or a force that you maintain for a period of time. For example, holding your gaming controller or cradling the phone.
Contact force, or pressure that occurs when you rest on an edge or hard surface. For example, resting your wrists on the edge of your desk, table or other hard surface.
Consider the following suggestions to reduce the effects of low forces on your body:
Press gaming controller buttons with a light touch, keeping your hands and fingers relaxed, as it takes little effort to activate these buttons. Also, use a light touch when using control sticks or pads on a gaming controller.
Avoid resting your palms or wrists on any type of surface while using game controllers.
Relax your arms and hands when you're not actually using game controllers. See "Taking Breaks" section below for additional information.
Hold the game controller with a relaxed hand. Do not grip the game controller more tightly than is necessary.
Take Breaks
Taking breaks can go a long way in helping your body recover from any activity and may help you avoid MSDs. The length and frequency of breaks that are right for you depend on the type of activity you are doing. Stopping the activity and relaxing is one way to take a break, but there are other ways, also. These include:
Changing tasks can help some muscles relax while others remain productive. For example, you might sit while playing video games but stand when not playing.
Using different methods to accomplish the same task. For example, using the controller pad instead of the control stick.
Relaxing your arms and hands while watching others play or during cut scenes, replays, or other pauses within a game.
Learning about software and hardware features by reading the information that came with your game discs and hardware products.
Be Healthy
A healthy lifestyle can help you perform and enjoy your everyday activities, including the time spent playing video games. For overall good health, consider the following:
Eat a balanced diet and get adequate rest.
Exercise for overall fitness to give strength and flexibility to your body. Keep in mind that you should consult a qualified health professional to help you choose the stretches and exercises that are right for you.
Learn to manage stress.
See a qualified health professional if you have questions about how your medical and physical conditions may be related to MSDs. While researchers are not yet able to answer many questions about MSDs, there is general agreement that many factors may be linked to their occurrence, including previous injuries, diabetes, hormonal changes (such as pregnancy), and rheumatoid arthritis.
Keep healthy.
Don't over-do it! Play it safe and know the guidelines to healthy gaming.
This guide is designed to help you be comfortable while using your Xbox to play video games. It may also help you reduce your risk of experiencing painful and disabling injuries or disorders described in the following Health Warning.
Health Warning
Use of game controllers, keyboards, mice, or other electronic input devices may be linked to serious injuries or disorders.
When playing video games, as with many activities, you may experience occasional discomfort in your hands, arms, shoulders, neck, or other parts of your body. However, if you experience symptoms such as persistent or recurring discomfort, pain, throbbing, aching, tingling, numbness, burning sensation, or stiffness, DO NOT IGNORE THESE WARNING SIGNS. PROMPTLY SEE A QUALIFIED HEALTH PROFESSIONAL, even if symptoms occur when you are not playing a video game. Symptoms such as these can be associated with painful and sometimes permanently disabling injuries or disorders of the nerves, muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and other parts of the body. These musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) include carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, vibration syndromes, and other conditions.
While researchers are not yet able to answer many questions about MSDs, there is general agreement that many factors may be linked to their occurrence, including: medical and physical conditions, stress and how one copes with it, overall health, and how a person positions and uses their body during work and other activities (including playing a video game). Some studies suggest that the amount of time a person performs an activity may also be a factor.
Some guidelines that may help you work and play more comfortably and possibly reduce your risk of experiencing an MSD can be found in the following sections of this Guide. These guidelines address topics such as:
Positioning yourself to use comfortable, not awkward postures
Keeping your hands, fingers and other body parts relaxed
Taking breaks
Developing a healthy lifestyle.
If you have questions about how your own lifestyle, activities, or medical or physical condition may be related to MSDs, see a qualified health professional.
For information about arranging your gaming area and developing habits that may help to reduce your risk of experiencing an MSD, read this "Healthy Xbox Gaming Guide." Because there are a variety of factors that may contribute to MSDs, this guide cannot provide everything you need to know to prevent an MSD or reduce your risk of experiencing one. For some people, following the suggestions may reduce their risk of experiencing an MSD. For others, it may not. However, many people are likely to experience greater comfort when following these suggestions. Keep in mind that this guide is not a substitute for the advice of a qualified health professional. If you have questions about how your own lifestyle, activities, or medical or physical condition may be related to MSDs, see a qualified health professional.
Position Yourself
Using your body in comfortable, not awkward, postures is important, whether you're working or playing. Not only can this affect your overall performance, but also it can influence how comfortable you are while playing video games and may help you avoid MSDs. Keep in mind that changing your posture during extended gaming sessions may also help you avoid discomfort and fatigue.
When playing video games, adapt your surroundings and arrange your equipment to promote a comfortable and relaxed body posture. Because everyone has a unique body size and since many factors affect your comfort, we cannot tell you exactly how to set up your area to avoid discomfort; however, the following suggestions may help to provide you with a more comfortable environment.
To support your back, consider the following:
Choose a chair or seat that provides support for your lower back and allows you to assume a comfortable and natural body posture.
To promote comfortable leg postures, consider the following:
Clear away items from your legs to allow comfortable leg positions and movement.
To promote comfortable shoulder and arm postures, consider the following:
Your upper arms should fall relaxed at your sides.
To promote proper wrist and finger postures, consider the following:
Keep your wrists straight while holding and using controllers. Avoid bending your wrists up, down, or to the sides.
To minimize neck bending and twisting, consider the following:
Position yourself and/or the television so that you do not have to tilt your head up or down or side-to-side for extended periods.
To minimize eyestrain, consider the following:
Avoid glare. Place your television away from light sources that produce glare, or use window blinds to control light levels.
Adjust your television's brightness and contrast to levels that are comfortable for you.
Go Lightly
Physical forces continuously interact with our bodies. We may only think of high-impact forces, such as car crashes, as injuring our bodies. However, low forces may also result in injuries, discomfort, and fatigue if they are repeated or experienced over long periods of time.
Consider the following types of low forces:
Dynamic force, or a force that you exert through movement. For example, pressing buttons on a gaming controller or the keys of a computer keyboard.
Static force, or a force that you maintain for a period of time. For example, holding your gaming controller or cradling the phone.
Contact force, or pressure that occurs when you rest on an edge or hard surface. For example, resting your wrists on the edge of your desk, table or other hard surface.
Consider the following suggestions to reduce the effects of low forces on your body:
Press gaming controller buttons with a light touch, keeping your hands and fingers relaxed, as it takes little effort to activate these buttons. Also, use a light touch when using control sticks or pads on a gaming controller.
Avoid resting your palms or wrists on any type of surface while using game controllers.
Relax your arms and hands when you're not actually using game controllers. See "Taking Breaks" section below for additional information.
Hold the game controller with a relaxed hand. Do not grip the game controller more tightly than is necessary.
Take Breaks
Taking breaks can go a long way in helping your body recover from any activity and may help you avoid MSDs. The length and frequency of breaks that are right for you depend on the type of activity you are doing. Stopping the activity and relaxing is one way to take a break, but there are other ways, also. These include:
Changing tasks can help some muscles relax while others remain productive. For example, you might sit while playing video games but stand when not playing.
Using different methods to accomplish the same task. For example, using the controller pad instead of the control stick.
Relaxing your arms and hands while watching others play or during cut scenes, replays, or other pauses within a game.
Learning about software and hardware features by reading the information that came with your game discs and hardware products.
Be Healthy
A healthy lifestyle can help you perform and enjoy your everyday activities, including the time spent playing video games. For overall good health, consider the following:
Eat a balanced diet and get adequate rest.
Exercise for overall fitness to give strength and flexibility to your body. Keep in mind that you should consult a qualified health professional to help you choose the stretches and exercises that are right for you.
Learn to manage stress.
See a qualified health professional if you have questions about how your medical and physical conditions may be related to MSDs. While researchers are not yet able to answer many questions about MSDs, there is general agreement that many factors may be linked to their occurrence, including previous injuries, diabetes, hormonal changes (such as pregnancy), and rheumatoid arthritis.
Keep healthy.