What exactly characterizes video game addiction? Writer and researcher Neils Clark recently tackled this and other related questions at the 2008 Games for Health Conference. In his talk, Clark elaborated on the problem, its elements, real world relationships and possible solutions. More on those in the full article after the jump.

If you simply can't live without your mobile beside you, you might think again when you read through this article. A study done by Sweden's Karolinska Institute and Wayne State University have found out that radiation from handsets can have adverse effects on the body, causing insomnia, headaches, and even confusion. More information on the study in the full article.

Those of us who've developed a brain that can't shut down as easily as you turn off your console (probably a result of playing too much,) we know how trying to sleep can sometimes be more tiring than levelling up a healer with no mana or potions left. Well here are some suggestions from medical blog Spine Health to help you get some snooze.

• Get more daytime naps: Nap straight sometime after lunch. Just for about 20 minutes; enough to refresh you but not enough to interfere with your regular sleeping hours.
• Avoid hot baths before sleep: The body needs to cool down to sleep. A hot bath will actually wake you up. Which is not to say you should take an ice cold bath. You're a gamer, not an eskimo.
• Make your room cold: As stated before, a body needs to cool down to sleep so this would help the process along. The blog also suggests a warm comforter for added... comfort.
• Exercise!: Intense exercise releases all that extra energy and your body will just naturally fall to exhaustion.
• Avoid red wine: Drinking red wine would keep some people awake. Personally I prefer beer.
• Expose yourself to sunlight when you wake up: Yes, sunlight. It won't burn you to ash. It will reset your body clock and let it know its morning. In effect it will know when it's time to go to sleep.
• Avoid TV and Internet: Avoid them 30 minutes before you go to bed. They stimulate the brain and prevents it from toning down to sleep.
• Block out noise: Although you don't have to take Daredevil's method and sleep in a metal coffin full of water, it does help to just sleep in a quiet environment.
• Practice a sleeping habit: This would help your body know when to sleep.
• Avoid stress: So your Bioshock Big Daddy's broken. Don't sweat it, just replace it. It keeps you from tossing and turning in bed.
• Keep a pen and notebook near your bed: Sometimes we have thoughts we want to dwell on but it's keeping us awake. Write it down and tell your brain to shut up and deal with it in the morning.

For hardcore gamers with a life (pime taradox), sleeping is a major problem. Whether you plan on sleeping early, or plan to not sleep at all, those 7 hour raiding sessions that you just can't let up would still make you sleepy the day after. Here are some tips from Jay White (of "Dumb Little Man") that not only will give you enough sleep, but also earn 10 extra days a year.

• Don't lay on the bed if you don't feel like sleeping. If you're the kind of person that would just ponder about all sorts of things while on the bed instead of sleeping, try getting to bed when you think you'll instantly fall asleep.
• Set your alarm clock to go off at the same time, seven days a week. This would allow your body to get used to the habit, that you won't even need an alarm clock to wake up when you should.
• Take afternoon naps when you're tired. After taking lunch, don't be afraid to sneak in 20 minutes or so of a nap. It may not seem like much, but you'll get a pretty good boost of energy. Just make sure you set an alarm, so you won't snooze off and miss that guild meeting.

By doing these, you'll get the energy you need and even more days to that 365 a year. It worked for Jay White, so it can work for you too.

American and European studies have shown that people with the inclination to believe in the supernatural, such as reincarnation and alien abductions, are more likely to have memory problems than their non-believing counterparts.

Scientists say that the reason behind this may very well be the dilution of memories as those who believe in past lives are more often endowed with the ability to create "false memories" because they have above-average imagery skills. When they get caught up with the fantasies, they have trouble stopping themselves from convincing their own psyche that things aren't always deja vu.

Separate studies in the Haamstricht University in The Netherlands and Harvard University proved the theory by testing respondents in two phases designed to simulate how they would perform normally in everyday activities that require short-term memory.

First, the respondent would be treated with hypnosis, then made to read a list of 20 names which was divided into two subsets. First was a list of popular people's names while the other half was a list of non-popular people's names. After reading the names, the respondents were asked to read the same list again, which was shuffled randomly along with ten new non-popular names.

The task for the respondents was now to classify the names into three - the popular names, the non-popular names they already read and the non-popular names which were added late. The results revealed that the group that had beliefs in reincarnation was twice as likely to make mistakes.

"We suspect that this might be kind of a psychological buffering mechanism against the fear of death," says Richard McNally of Harvard. McNally, a clinical psychologist, also said that the people who have this type of belief sets were also more likely to be depressed and suffer from insomnia. That compounds the problem as sleep loss has been considered a factor in memory loss.

A survey by construction companies and architects recently revealed that as couples move in, more and more of them are asking to gave separate rooms built. It seems a little strange considering that most of them are married, but it's true.

The New York times set out to find out why this is happening and the answer turned out funny at first. It wasn't the sex or rifts between lovers- it was snoring.

It may sound like a trivial issue, but the fact is that experts are predicting that by 2015, more than 60 percent of new homes built will have two master bedrooms. Such projects can run the cost of more than a thousand dollars, but couples say there's no substitute for good sleep.

And it goes beyond snoring, according to interviews with couples and sociologists. Irregular sleeping habits, emailing late in the night, sleep-talking and insomnia are among the causes of bedroom separation. Mrs. Lana Pepper recalls the years of sleeplessness with her husband who had plenty of bedroom quirks.

He cannot have his feet tucked into any of the covers; I have to have them tucked in. So I took all the linens and split them with scissors. Then I finished the edge so that half of the sheet would tuck under and the other half he could kick out.

The New York Times report also said that there may be even more cases like this which aren't revealed because of the negative perception towards sleeping separately. The matter can be a sensitive issue and some couples don't want to talk about it.

What's important, says the report, is that conjugal bliss and comfort is preserved, and if sleeping apart is the best avenue to achieve it, there's nothing wrong with it.

Sleep more and life will suck less according to Dr. Phyllis Zee from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Well, his exact words were: “There is increasing evidence that there is a very strong relationship between sleep quality and physical and mental health... poor health...is associated with poor sleep. Also...there is an association between that (poor sleep) and poor health."

A national survey of 31,044 adults revealed a link between insomnia and other sleeping problems with high blood pressure, heart failure, anxiety, and depression.

While Zee said that there is still no evidence yet that indicates squeezing more sleeping hours makes diabetes, hypertension, and other medical conditions better, studies have shown more sleep makes teenagers do better in school and can even have a major effect on children suffering from depression.