Is poker bad for your health?

Kamaldihnio

I was wondering if all these poker sessions that go on till the next day are bad for your health?

An example would be starting to play at 8pm and playing on till 8am the next day. I have done worse than this as I am sure many of you have.

Someone once told me, if you work nights all your life, you supposedly loose 10years. I don't know how true that is.

I work in IT but am 24*7 cover, add that to playing poker and I probably have the worse sleeping pattern in the world.

I really look freaky when I stay up till the next morning but my main question is am I damaging my health and if so, how severely?

Have you ever wondered or does it not bother you?

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

RoadSweeper

why mental? It can help keep you sharp?
Physicially it can have a huge impact.

Sleep wise i try not to play tired and if i have something important the next day i wont play till late.

It must be hard for people with full time jobs squeezing in hours late and up early, which is why college is good.

But in general, it doesnt have to be bad for your health if you plan how you play and when correctly.

Jesus Wept

It's not poker, it's the people who do it.

You don't have to play such long sessions, especially in cash games.
You can walk away.

tipp86

Anyone consider the stress if you are a losing player.Been studying stress in college lately and losing poker player if it is affecting you financially has to have relating health issues.Seen so many live players lose money they simply cant afford to have done it a few times myself but not quiet at the heart attack age yet:)

hotspur

I remember studying the effect of shift work which involved working nights some years ago and the clear conclusion is that it is very bad for you to work nights. It can lead to a host of health problems including Chronic fatigue syndrome. So staying up all night playing poker is indeed quite bad for you, but so is staying up watching TV or anything else for that matter.

zuutroy

I think its great for the mentle health, except when you get rivered out of a final table spot as I just did :-( I can't hack late nights really, and my concentration starts to go west about 1am, so I just quit then normally. It's definitely not great to sit at the desk for hours on end though. Normally I only play about 2 hours at a time, but I was playing for 8 hours in a deepstack the other night and my head was wrecked by the end of it.

cooker3

hotspur wrote: »

I remember studying the effect of shift work which involved working nights some years ago and the clear conclusion is that it is very bad for you to work nights. It can lead to a host of health problems including Chronic fatigue syndrome. So staying up all night playing poker is indeed quite bad for you, but so is staying up watching TV or anything else for that matter.

Oh well I'm screwed

spectre

About this time last year when I had a full time job, I was playing pretty much all the time. Often, I would go to work with only a few hours sleep. I wasn't eating enough either and lost about a stone in a month (way too much to lose for a skinny chap). I hadn't noticed the change but when I went home to visit the parents they were shocked at the visible change in only a month.

So the answer is most definitely yes. But the good news for all you fat f*ckers out there is that you can get rid of that excess bulk by playing poker all the time and avoid sleep as much as humanly possible.

jbravado

Rofl!

dvdfan

hotspur wrote: »

I remember studying the effect of shift work which involved working nights some years ago and the clear conclusion is that it is very bad for you to work nights. It can lead to a host of health problems including Chronic fatigue syndrome. So staying up all night playing poker is indeed quite bad for you, but so is staying up watching TV or anything else for that matter.

Interesting but surely its more to do with how we handle it, for example if your playing till 7am, sleeping for 5 hours, not getting much exercise etc etc it surely would affect you but if your playing till 7am, sleeping until 3-5pm, going to the gym etc etc it shouldnt have too much effect i would imagine, and would be very hard to fit that schedule into a normal lifestyle, 9-5pm people work 9am-5pm 5 days a week and go to bed early maybe 10-11pm, then alot of the time theyll go nuts for the weekend, out Saturday night until 3-4am, climbing out of bed at 2-3pm in the day when theyre used to being up at 6am or 7am and then something similar Sunday and then back up at 7am Monday morning into a completely different schedule. Of course im assuming a typical type of person just for this example!

I would imagine it would be easier for someone who works through the night and gets up at 3-4pm to go on the beer for the weekend as it would be keeping alot closer to his normal weekday schedule. Also people in Asia other parts of the world are on Night Schedule as such and it dosent seem to effect them although it does take some getting used to.

Gillybean72

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Poker is undoubtedly bad for both your physical and mental health.

Dont agree on the mental health bit, I play to keep myself sane at times. I find it keeps me focused and keeps my brain from going into meltdown with all the cr*p on telly!

Its bad for my kids health though, especially when they look to get fed while Im playing in a tournament **sheesh** :eek:

Gillybean72

spectre wrote: »

About this time last year when I had a full time job, I was playing pretty much all the time. Often, I would go to work with only a few hours sleep. I wasn't eating enough either and lost about a stone in a month (way too much to lose for a skinny chap). I hadn't noticed the change but when I went home to visit the parents they were shocked at the visible change in only a month.

So the answer is most definitely yes. But the good news for all you fat f*ckers out there is that you can get rid of that excess bulk by playing poker all the time and avoid sleep as much as humanly possible.

You should post this in a ladies slimming site and you might find some girls turn to poker! but now you mention it, Ive lost loads since I started playing

phantom_lord

meh.

hotspur

dvdfan wrote: »

Interesting but surely its more to do with how we handle it, for example if your playing till 7am, sleeping for 5 hours, not getting much exercise etc etc it surely would affect you but if your playing till 7am, sleeping until 3-5pm,

Actually all sleep is not created equal. Sleep during the day is just not as restful as nighttime sleep. Obviously you can mitigate the effects somewhat by trying to be healthy in the rest of your life, but these things combined with a good nighttime sleep pattern is best.

We are not badgers, hedgehogs, or Asians!

cooker3

hotspur wrote: »

We are not badgers, hedgehogs, or Asians!

lol

Jesus Wept

I sleep better during the day.

cooker3

I have to say although I usually stay up to 7am and wake up at 4pm (God bless the student life) The rare times I do get a good night sleep and wake up in the morning I usually feel fantastic and when I play poker in that mode I can nearly guarantee winning 3 buyins.

ianmc38

i've had about 3 different body clock cycles over the course of the past year.

In one I went to bed at 6 or 7 am and slept through til 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The second one involved waking up at midnight and staying up til about 3pm and then repeating. both of these were ill.

More recently I've been getting up at 7am most mornings and going to sleep around midnight or 1 am. This is by far the best regime ive had. I feel way fresher and have much more energy in th mornings and sleep patterns are much much better.

El Stuntman

this thread reminds me of a quote from one of my favourite authors:

"you gotta find out what you like and let it kill you"

Glowingmind

As The Rigger correctly stated above, "It's not poker, it's the people who do it."

I've put on a ton of weight in the last two years, the two biggest changes in my life being the increase in the amount of time i spend playing poker and the weird hours i've been working in my job.

Neither of these is responsible for me putting on weight, i am, because i'm a lazy sod.

New years resolution = eat less and play better poker you donkey.

5starpool

spectre wrote: »

About this time last year when I had a full time job, I was playing pretty much all the time. Often, I would go to work with only a few hours sleep. I wasn't eating enough either and lost about a stone in a month (way too much to lose for a skinny chap). I hadn't noticed the change but when I went home to visit the parents they were shocked at the visible change in only a month.

So the answer is most definitely yes. But the good news for all you fat f*ckers out there is that you can get rid of that excess bulk by playing poker all the time and avoid sleep as much as humanly possible.

You are probably more of an exception rather than the rule sadly Bobby.

luckylucky

5starpool wrote: »

You are probably more of an exception rather than the rule sadly Bobby.

Sadly I think defo an exception. Poker has made me fatter and less fit.

pok3rplaya

Lets make a poll to see how much poker@boards.ie weighs in total.

strewelpeter

El Stuntman wrote: »

this thread reminds me of a quote from one of my favourite authors:

"you gotta find out what you like and let it kill you"

.

Thats one of the Kinkster's isn't it ?

coolhandc

just came across this in an edition of cardplayer last year...

http://europe.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/65631?page=3

Samba

i've done many a night/morning 10.pm to 12.pm and you can literally feel your body screaming inside, it clearly can't be good for you.

Financially it did do wonders tho

I don't know if i'll ever go back to playing live on a permanent basis, it just screws your body up.

El Stuntman

strewelpeter wrote: »

.

Thats one of the Kinkster's isn't it ?

sure is

I prefer his music myself - they just don't write tunes like 'They ain't makin' Jews like Jesus anymore' or 'Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in my bed'

classic stuff

bottom feeder

this thread is full of denial - or is that a river in Egypt

Samba

I felt compelled to inform you Wes....just how bad that pun was

bottom feeder

Samba wrote: »

I felt compelled to inform you Wes....just how bad that pun was

lol i know. i try to hard - you see my mental state isn't the best at the moment , must be to much poker.:(

Sirtoyou

I think the spanish have it correct.
The midday siesta is the way to go.I often employ this tactic and always feel great when i do.Also as the current owner of 2 kids under 3 i know their sleep patterns also includes this afternoon kip as natural.
It aint the midday heat its the nuts.

Kamaldihnio

coolhandc wrote: »

just came across this in an edition of cardplayer last year...

http://europe.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/65631?page=3

I definitely smoke more when I play cards. I just cant help it. I would barely have 2 smokes on my entire shift for work but when playing cards I would chain smoke. Now I know that isn't healthy.

Also someone said they have lost weight. If anything I gained it for a while as I stopped playing football and going to the gym so I could play that tourney or cash game. Lately I have made more of an effort, not much of an effort just more. Exercise twice a week kind of thing.

The morale of that story in the link above is a game of cards for an hour a day is good for you and your mind. But looking at everyone's posts and how I feel most of the time tells me that staying up all night playing poker is not good for your health. Its obviously very bad for it. That sucks but the truth hurts.

MrPillowTalk

I sleep at most 5 hours a night during the week, many nights less.

If you count poker as work I reckon I do at least 75 hours a week.

I feel fine most of the time but occasionally I just crash on total burnout and sleep for over 12 hours in a single sitting, I have a good engine but it cant be denied that I am obviously engaged in a lifestyle that is deeply unhealthy.

Id rather live like this and be happy though than to live like you "should" and be miserable. Ill sleep when Im dead, people often say things like it well knock ten years off your life but in actual fact if you add up the extra hours Im awake then Im sure I get those ten years back and probably more.