Addiction to video games is becoming a bigger problem as a each generation is born into this age of technology. With the rise of popularity of online games such as World of Warcraft and Aion Online video game addiction is a new challenge to face in our own lives and the lives of our children.  Online games can be even more addictive according to some experts due to their built in chat systems, social components and a game play story and goals that never end. People in the grips of video game addiction and online game addiction have lost relationships, jobs, feel behind in financial obligations and in some cases have even lost their children due to neglect.

You may be asking why some people become addicted to video games.  A online game addiction or a video game addiction is similar to any other addiction in the way it gives the addict a way to escape reality.  With drug addiction or gambling addiction they use their addiction of choose to escape into a fantasy world where they will not have to deal with their emotions or their current life. It is not physical addiction but carries with it some of the same compulsive behavior such as alcoholism and sex addiction. But what are some of the signs of video game addiction?

Questions to ask if you think you of someone you love is addicted to video games.

• Are you having trouble staying on top of your job or studies?

My video games addicts report staying up all night, even days at a time trying to beat a certain level or completing some event inside a game. Online games especially have a social aspect where the player needs to stay with a certain group for long periods of time. This can lead to over sleeping and being late to work or not going to class at all.

• Are you neglectful of relationships with friends, family, or lovers?

Online video games have a community made up of other gamers. Sometimes video game addicts will use this to replace real life relationships. The addict can withdraw from the real world into the fantasy of the video game world leaving other people in their life behind.

• Have you lied about your playing video games or been talk to by someone close because they where concerned about playing too much?

Denial and anger is one of the first signs of any addiction. If you are lying about your use of games then you could be in the grips of video game addiction.  Normal use of anything will not make a person feel the need to lie. If someone close to you has approached you about playing to much perhaps they see something you don’t. Denial keeps a addict from seeing the problems their addiction is causing.

• Does your video game playing cause you to feel angry or depressed when you are not playing. Do you find yourself obsessing about when you are going to play again? Do you neglect eating, sleeping and bathing often?

The addict uses the game to replace missing part of them. When they are away from that then they may start to withdrawal or crave it. These are all common signs for most addictions. Ask yourself if this is normal behavior.

What can an online game addict do?

There is help for any addict including video game addicts. Your first step is to quit now. There is no recovery for any addict as long as they are still using. Next checking into a rehab or a detoxification is a good way to force you off of the games. There are now special rehabs and detoxification facilities just for video game addicts. There are a lot of great treatment centers available but if they are too far or too expensive in your area reaching out to a church, local recovery meeting, or someone close to you about your problem is a good first step. Any video game addict can live a productive happy life but the first step is to quit now!

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So what are some of the steps that we can do to help nurture our spirit? Well one of the first things we could do if we have a problem with alcohol is to stop drinking. Your spirit becomes stuck in sort of a purgatory when we continue to cover over feelings or emotions with drugs and alcohol. Now this might not be an easy statement. We may have been suffering from an addiction for a very long time and for some of us covering up our feelings and emotions with drugs and alcohol is all we know. But by continuing this abuse your spirit and your soul can no longer mature as long as were covering them up with something outside of ourselves. Once we remove these toxins from our body and have a clear mind for an extended period of time our spiritual exercises can start to take hold. What are some of these spiritual exercises we can do? Simple things like yoga, meditation, and exercise. Maybe being a part of a 12-step program or fellowship if you really need addiction help, Getting outside of ourselves by helping someone else. Perhaps joining an organization that focuses on volunteer work is something you would be interested in. These are some of the things we can do to help exercise our soul.

You may thing back in the time of your life when you thought that people that volunteered or help others where just bleeding hearts. In reality the things that you’ve watched those people do or seen on the news were not just doing that for the other people. In the end they were doing it for themselves. Any type of addiction has its roots in total self-centeredness. The only way to treat self centeredness is by getting out side of self. Think about every small thing you do for someone else as that little bit of exercise for the soul. Just like running a mile or lifting wieghts.It’s the best kind of addiction help. Try it for a week and if you’re not happy, I promise your misery can be refunded,.

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Smoking besides being an addiction is also a habit. This combination makes it very difficult for long time smokers to give up this nasty habit. Despite that there are some simple things to help you quit smoking. These things include exercise, healthy diet, nicotine substitutes and other ways to motivate your self to withstand the whole process until you finally quit smoking.

It is a fact that for some people quitting smoking means getting extra weight. The main reason behind this behavior is the fact that you are trying to substitute the act of smoking with eating small, unhealthy and full fat snacks. For example when you have the desire for a smoke and you want to quit, you may end up eating a bar of chocolate. This keeps you away from smoking but on the other hand you load your body with a lot more calories than required. The repetition of this situation for a long time leaves you with the habit of eating snacks very frequently.

What you can do to minimize the weight you will gain and even lose weight when you quit smoking are the following:

1. Get into the habit of eating fruits for snacks. Even if you are not the greatest fun of fruits you should try and force your self to eat a couple of fruits per day, in-between your meals, at the same time every day. For example try to eat an apple at 10:00 in the morning and at 16:00 try to eat some other fruit you like. The objective is to create a habit and train your self to desire a fruit for snack and thus stay away from other unhealthy and full fat snacks.

2. Drink a lot of water. Water has many benefits to offer to your health and weight loss. First it will help you get rid of all the toxins in your body created by smoking and second it can keep your stomach full and keep you away from eating many calories through food.

3. Exercise. Exercise can help you quit smoking but can also help you to maintain your weight after you stop smoking. Try to exercise for at least 30 minutes per day, 4 times per week. After you complete a month, try to increase both the duration and intensity of the exercise.

4. Healthy diet. When you quit smoking you may notice that you eat bigger size of food portions. This is because you take more time eating since you are not in a hurry to take a cigarette. So, you should take care of your food portions as well as the type of food you eat. Prefer to eat healthy food like fish, poultry and avoid red meat and fried food.

The above tips will certainly help you to lose weight when you decide to quit smoking.

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