A study reveals that a simple, caffeine-free drink may help gamers stay mentally sharp for hours, preserving executive function and reducing fatigue without the crash of sugar or stimulants.
Study: Sparkling water consumption mitigates cognitive fatigue during prolonged esports play. Image credit: Arsenii Palivoda/Shutterstock.com
A recent study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports tested the hypothesis that cognitive fatigue is mitigated by consuming sparkling water during prolonged esports play.
Cognitive fatigue during prolonged esports play and beverage consumption
Esports are competitive video game-based activities that have expanded rapidly in recent years and entail digital cognitive engagement. Esports demand advanced cognitive skills, including task switching, sustained attention, spatial reasoning, and information processing. Sustained esports play can affect cognitive function and has previously been shown to reduce both the speed and accuracy of executive function, as well as cause pupil constriction, even before subjective fatigue becomes apparent.
Addressing cognitive fatigue is important as it could help prevent severe accidents and long-term health problems. There is a lack of research on cognitive fatigue associated with esports play and on countermeasures to overcome or manage it.
Beverages such as energy drinks and coffee are often consumed to manage fatigue. These drinks delay cognitive fatigue by increasing executive function. However, excessive consumption of such sugary or caffeinated drinks can be detrimental to health in the long term, including sleep disturbances, abnormal heart rate, increased depressive symptoms, and impaired glucose tolerance. Therefore, safer and more sustainable beverage alternatives are necessary to manage cognitive fatigue.
In recent years, sugar- and caffeine-free carbonated beverages, such as sparkling water, have gained popularity. Prior research has shown that sparkling water has a mood-enhancing effect and that consuming carbonated beverages may delay the onset of fatigue associated with prolonged cognitive activity. Sparkling water has also been shown in prior studies to increase cerebral blood flow in prefrontal regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), which is involved in executive function; however, the precise mechanisms underlying these effects remain theoretical and were not directly tested in the present study.
Assessing the role of sparkling water in combating cognitive fatigue during prolonged esports play
To test whether sparkling water reduces cognitive fatigue, researchers conducted a randomized, crossover trial in which 14 young adult gamers played a virtual soccer game for 3 hours while consuming either sparkling water (SW) or plain water (PW). By comparing two non-caffeinated, sugar-free beverages, the study isolated the effects of carbonation alone. Participants were predominantly male, with an average age of 23 years.
Demographic data were collected from participants, including physical activity levels, esports playing habits, and sleep duration. Broadly similar levels of esports engagement were noted in the sample, and data on genre-specific playing experience were not collected. Participants refrained from consuming alcohol the day before and had their usual meal at least 2 hours preceding the gaming session.
On the trial day, participants played 4–6 matches per hour for a total duration of 3 hours. Executive function and subjective sensations were assessed before gameplay (Pre) and at 1-hour intervals during the gaming session (1 h, 2 h, and 3 h). To gauge cortisol levels, saliva samples were also collected, while an eye tracker continuously recorded pupil diameter. Furthermore, during the gameplay, interstitial fluid glucose levels were monitored. At least two days later, participants completed the same procedure while consuming the alternative beverage.
SW consumption mitigates cognitive fatigue and sustains performance during prolonged esports play
Concerning the players’ subjective sensations, i.e., sense of fatigue and enjoyment, fatigue increased significantly after more than 2 hours of gameplay in the PW condition, while remaining constant in the SW condition. Across both PW and SW conditions, enjoyment increased markedly over time, with SW showing a greater increase. Hunger was significantly lower in SW compared to PW.
Assessment of executive function dynamics showed that cognitive fatigue was evident in the PW condition after more than 2 hours of play, relative to Pre, as indicated by increased flanker interference time and reduced accuracy on incongruent trials. Such a pattern was not observed in the SW condition, and overall, the results suggested that consumption of SW aids in preventing the decline in executive function during long periods of esports play.
Concerning the underlying physiological mechanisms by which SW reduces cognitive fatigue, baseline non-invasive physiological indices (e.g., heart rate, pupil diameter, and so on) did not differ significantly between SW and PW. After the first 2 hours of play, pupil diameter (an indicator of prefrontal activity) decreased in the PW condition, but no such pattern was noted in the SW condition.
Researchers found a significant negative correlation between pupil diameter and executive performance in the overall data and specifically in the plain water condition, but not in the sparkling water condition. This pattern suggests that the attenuation of pupil constriction in the sparkling water condition was accompanied by preserved executive performance, although causality cannot be inferred from this association.
The maximum and average heart rates did not change during the experiment, and no beverage-related effects were observed in interstitial fluid glucose levels. The cortisol levels also remained unchanged across both conditions. The fatigue-reducing effects of SW appeared to maintain in-game performance and may support fair play behavior, as participants committed fewer fouls while offensive and defensive performance remained unchanged.
Conclusion
In sum, consumption of SW during prolonged esports play reduced both subjective and cognitive fatigue, with the effect likely associated with maintained prefrontal activation, as indexed by pupil diameter, although the physiological mechanism was not directly tested.
Regarding this study's limitations, the sample size was smaller than ideal, which may limit the generalizability of the findings. The physiological mechanism underlying the observed effects of SW was also not directly examined. Furthermore, perfect blinding of beverage conditions was not feasible, and sensory cues could allow participants to identify the beverages, potentially introducing the possibility of expectancy or placebo effects influencing the results.
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