Video gaming impact on adults' psychological well-being, cognitive functions, and sleep

Although video games (VGs) are widely used by adults, studies on this age range are sparse and controversial. Though the findings generally point to negative effects, their interpretation is made difficult by methodological issues: first, the use of subjective sleep measures only; second, the lack of control over additional factors such as the type of VG and, above all, the previous level of exposure to VGs, in that only habitual gamers and even gaming-addicted subjects were studied. Therefore, we have specifically selected a sample of adult non-gamers to assess the impact of an action VG on sleep, cognitive functioning, and stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. In a within-subjects design, 14 adult non-gamers(Mage = 23.6 ± 2.35 years, 8 F) underwent a baseline assessment(BA) including: sleep logs and actigraphy for one week, one night of home polysomnography (PSG), administration of a battery of cognitive tests and of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). BA was followed by an experimental condition (EC) and an active control condition (AC), in balanced order between participants, each lasting four days: (a) three nights of pre-sleep activity manipulation, in which participants either played an action VG (EC) or watched a familiar action TV series (AC) for an hour before bedtime, with PSG on the last night; (b) administration of the cognitive battery and of the DASS-21on the 4th day. n EC, participants reported better visuospatial working memory and inhibition response (all's p < 0.050), as well as improvedDASS-21 scores, compared to BA and AC (all's p < 0.050). No between-conditions differences emerged for sleep variables.Conclusion: Our data suggest that controlled, time-constrained video gaming does not compromise objective sleep quality and yields a positive impact on cognitive functioning, stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms even in a sample of non-gamers in which the occurrence of habituation processes may be excluded. In line with sleep-memory literature showing sleep improvements after cognitive training con-ducted through VGs and with studies successfully using VGs in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders, our findings encourage investigations on the potential benefits of VG playing to improve sleep and general health.