It reads like a headline from a PSA: boy plays too many video games and dies unexpectedly. But that’s precisely what happened to a 17-year-old in Russia this past summer.

After breaking his leg and being unable to go out and hang out with his friends, a young man named Rastam took to playing video games all day every day. In fact, he only stopped playing to nap and feed himself.

Tragically, after a few weeks of doing nothing but sit in front of his TV, Rastam passed away due to deep vein thrombosis, a condition which occurs after a blood clot forms in the veins of the leg. Nearly 50 percent of thrombosis cases are the result of someone fracturing or breaking their leg and becoming bed ridden.

IMAGE SOURCE: WSBTV

His parents estimate that during the course of the past year, Rastam spent some 2,000 hours playing video games — meaning that he played video games for nearly 83 days during the past year.

While video games cannot be listed as the direct cause of death for poor Rastam, we hope this is a wake up call for other parents and children. No matter how much fun video games are, they cannot replace actual exercise. You still have to get off the couch and move.

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