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Re:Why I Play Video Games by PhearTheCeal on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @06:37PM (#6402384)
Some basic exercise routines would probably have the same beneficial effects and a bunch of added ones as well. You can't replace video games with exercise altogether (2 hours is a pretty long workout), but making it part of your "unwind" routine would benefit you greatly.
Re:Why I Play Video Games by m_ke on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @06:51PM (#6402444)
Exactly, especially if your job has you sitting in front of a computer for most of the day.

Getting rid of my TV, unsubscribing from mailing lists and limiting the time I spend on reddit/facebook/hn/etc to 10 minutes a day was one of the best decisions I've made in a while.

Re:Why I Play Video Games by goostavos on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @08:03PM (#6402658)
> limiting the time I spend on reddit/facebook/hn/etc to 10 minutes a day

For anyone who struggles with limiting the time -- not necessarily for lack of self control, but simply losing track of the time spent, [this plugin for Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankej...) is a life saver!

I set it for exactly 10 minutes on sites, and once I cross that threshold, it redirects whatever page you're currently browsing to one that simply says "Shouldn't you be working?".

[This xkcd comic](http://xkcd.com/386/) unfortunately describes my personality to a tee. I've spent literally hours in a single day simply arguing with people on reddit over trivial things that don't matter. Having the abrupt redirect to a page that tells me to question how I'm spending my time is just the kick I needed to realize that, yeah, I should be doing something else other than arguing with strangers on the internet.

Re:Why I Play Video Games by m_ke on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @09:04PM (#6402842)
Yeah I also use stayfocused. 10 minutes is just enough to skim my facebook feed and check if there's anything interesting here on hn.
Re:Why I Play Video Games by thenomad on Wednesday September 18, 2013 @05:32AM (#6404357)
I'm a keen gamer and pretty serious about my fitness, and my experience is that they both have very different benefits. Exercise does have benefits that gaming doesn't, but gaming also has benefits that exercise - even quite "gaming-like" exercise like kickboxing - doesn't.
Re:Why I Play Video Games by jlees on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @09:28PM (#6402905)
Depends on the person. I love to exercise first thing as it carries me through my day; conversely, exercising too late in the evening means I have trouble sleeping, and historically I'm more likely to find an excuse if I'm already tired from a day's work. Gaming, on the other hand, is a perfect evening activity for me. It's certainly possible to have both.
Re:Why I Play Video Games by jackmcdade on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @10:05PM (#6403017)
I do love hitting the gym as well. I usually go right before lunch :)