PD099 - EVALUATING LIFESTYLE BEHAVIORS AND WELL‑BEING IN SAUDI ARABIAN ESPORTS PLAYERS

PD099

EVALUATING LIFESTYLE BEHAVIORS AND WELL‑BEING IN SAUDI ARABIAN ESPORTS PLAYERS

Y. Almuhtadi^1,*, R. Alkuraya ¹

¹Community Health Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Rationale: Esports have experienced substantial growth in recent years. Given the predominantly sedentary nature of video gaming and esports, participation may encourage unhealthy lifestyle patterns that could adversely affect players’ performance. Existing research has examined physical activity, with comparatively little attention to other health-related parameters such as dietary intake, body mass index, and weight perception. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate lifestyle behaviors among esports players in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 190 eSports and videogame players in the Saudi Arabia data. Validated questionnaires were used to assess the demographic data, body mass index, dietary habits, weight perceptions and physical activity level of players. The inclusion criteria were Saudi, male and females aged 18 years old and above.

Results: Participants were classified 29.5% as overweight and 30.5% as obese. Overall, prolonged sedentary behavior (>8 hours/day) was observed and the participants showed high prevalence of excess weight, with. Most participants (78.4%) reported engaging in vigorous physical activity in the past seven days, and 66.7% reported moderate physical activity that met Saudi physical activity recommendations. Unhealthy dietary patterns were common, including frequent consumption of packaged snacks high in fat, salt, and sugar, as well as fast and fried foods, accompanied by low fruit and vegetable intake. Occasional players reported a higher intake of sugar‑sweetened beverages compared with other player groups; this difference approached but did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance (p = 0.25).

Conclusion: Esports players exhibit unhealthy lifestyle including unhealthy diet and sedentary behaviors. Targeted lifestyle interventions are needed to improve players' wellbeing and performance. 

Disclosure of Interest: None declared