00:00Can playing video games kill you? This 13-year-old died of a sudden gamer death.
00:04His last moments, playing Free Fire, a popular mobile game.
00:07His sister found him motionless on the bed, initially thinking he had fallen asleep,
00:11but he had died suddenly. A heartbreaking example of what is called sudden gamer death.
00:15But what is it? Sudden gamer death is a rare but devastating phenomena,
00:19where players die unexpectedly during long, uninterrupted gaming sessions.
00:23A 2022 study by Dr. Diana Kaporsko from the University of PECS analyzed 24 global cases
00:28of sudden gamer death between 1982 and 2021, mostly males aged 11 to 14, over half from Southeast Asia.
00:35Why does this happen? The study points to triggers like long inactivity causing blood clots,
00:40sudden blood pressure spikes, and factors like dehydration, sleep loss, stress,
00:44and prolonged fight or flight response, which can trigger fatal heart rhythm disturbances.
00:48India is home to about 568 million gamers, making it one of the world's largest gaming populations.
00:54While such deaths are rare, the risk is serious enough to warrant caution,
00:57hours of non-stop play, sitting motionless, an intense focus can silently turn deadly.
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