Can Playing Video Games Burn Calories?

You Should Know: Fair or not, playing video games doesn’t have the best reputation among non-gamers. Chief among them? Gaming often equals too much screen time and too much sedentary time. In 2021, however, an e-sports platform funded research that got quite a lot of media attention, particularly as gaming had increased during the COVID-19 lockdown. The study found that male gamers burned 420 calories in a two-hour gaming session (the equivalent of doing 1,000 sit-ups), but new research appears to have debunked this claim. 

Going Deeper: Perhaps unsurprisingly, a recent systematic review of five studies on calorie expenditure while playing video games found that gaming does not actually burn many calories. The metabolic output is more along the lines of light physical activity — certainly not on par with running or cycling. Gamers’ heart rates did increase while playing, but researchers attributed that to a stress response to competitive play, not physical exertion. 

Takeaway: Gaming can offer benefits for stress relief, emotional regulation, creativity, and cognitive growth, but burning calories isn’t one of them. 

Bottom Line: If you want to play video games, play video games. If you want to burn calories, work out.