In this video image released by Activision, a scene is shown from the video game, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." (AP Photo/Activision)
For guys who game, researchers have good news and bad news. The good news is that guys who play video games "chronically," which at least for the purpose of one new study is defined as more than an hour a day, are less likely to ejaculate prematurely than their non-chronic gaming counterparts.
The bad news, researchers report in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, is that they're also less likely to be interested in sex. Researchers can't fully explain what's happening—it might have something to do with increased stress levels from playing—but they suspect both findings are related, reports Vice's Broadly.
"I think that video games might be similar to physical exercise in these regards: occasional use might have beneficial effects, but when some threshold between 'occasional use' and 'chronic abuse' is crossed, ill effects might occur," says the lead author.
In the study, researchers surveyed nearly 400 men between the ages of 18 and 50 in Italy about their gaming habits and lifestyle in general. They found that as sex drive goes down, premature ejaculation becomes less likely, per Medical Daily.
One theory is that gamers tend to experience an overstimulation of the pleasure hormone dopamine, which helps stimulate orgasm, so they build up a sort of tolerance to it that makes them less interested in having an orgasm and also less likely to do so prematurely.
(Women are just as strong gamers as men.)
This article originally appeared on Newser: Two Ways Video Games Affect a Man's Sex Drive
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