Is playing videogames good for our mental health? And why is it sometimes hard for game developers to get enough sleep or a regular sleep pattern?

Disclaimer: This DevLog is intended to help anyone, who is in a similar situation we are in at the moment. Everyone has to make their own decisions. This merely is our own honest view and opinion, based on our experience. We would love to hear from you, what you think about it all. We wish you all the success and fun you deserve with the development and release of your game! eXplore Studio

In short, yes, playing video games can have multiple positive effects on our mental health, including improved mood, emotional resilience, social interactions, improved cognitive skills, and stress relief:

When completing challenging tasks and achieving difficult goals in games, dopamine is released, which is a mood-enhancing hormone that usually leads to feelings of satisfaction and happiness. Also, games often involve overcoming challenges and dealing with failure, which can help build emotional resilience and coping strategies and skills.

Furthermore, many multiplayer and online games offer opportunities for social interaction, thereby helping to combat feelings of loneliness and improve social skills. If strategic thinking, problem-solving, and quick decision-making is required during the gameplay, this can enhance cognitive skills and improve brain function. And of course, many games are helpful to unwind and relieve stress, although players and their perceptions may vary significantly. What one player finds relaxing; another might find very stressful. Anyway, engaging in a game can provide a distraction from daily worries and help us to relax.

However, it is certainly important to maintain a good balance and ensure that playing games does not negatively interfere with other aspects of our life. Moderation is like so often key to enjoying the benefits without experiencing negative impacts.

One aspect of our life balance that is very important is the length and quality of the sleep we get. Especially game developers may often face challenges in maintaining regular sleep patterns due to several factors:

The gaming industry is highly competitive, and there is constant pressure to deliver high-quality products on time. This can lead to extended work hours, high workloads and pressure to deliver. If your studio does not have robust (agile) processes in place that protect the team members, of if you are working alone, you might slip into ‘crunch’ mode. Whilst this may be necessary in some time-bound, extreme cases, it is not sustainable over time.

Moreover, since many game developers feel so passionate and enthusiastic about their work, want to make use of their creative flows, or may not want to stop when they make progress solving a given problem, they may find themselves working very long hours and late into the night.

Finally, geographically dispersed teams across multiple time zones may have to be flexible with their schedules and working hours, when the team’s collaboration happens at ‘odd’ hours.

Whatever our circumstances, balancing work and personal life is crucial for maintaining good mental and physical health. Sometimes, it might be a good idea to try and prioritise our sleep rather than struggling to get urgent work done when we are tired and, therefore, prone to making mistakes or errors anyway.