Video Games Effect On HeartIn order to determine the effects of video games on the heart, we must look atseveral different things. First, we must determine which specific areas we wantto investigate.
Looking at increased heart rate and blood pressure, we need todetermine the average maximum heart rate for the age group being tested. We mustdetermine what factors can cause one’s heart rate to increase, and we must lookat the current studies in regard to the various social effects of video andother electronic games. The main way that we increase our heart rate is throughexercise, and even then health care professionals recognize the importance ofpacing yourself. In order to pace yourself, you must determine your target heartrate. To do this, you must measure your pulse periodically as you exercise andstay within 50 to 75 percent of you maximum heart rate. A simple rule of thumbis if you can talk and walk at the same time, you are not working too hard.
Ifyou can sing and maintain your level of effort, you are probably not workinghard enough. If you get out of breath quickly, you are probably working toohard, especially if you have to stop and catch your breath. The target heartrate chart is broken down from twenty years of age to seventy years. The targetheart rate zone of fifty to seventy-five percent for people of twenty years is100-150 beats per minute with the average maximum heart rate of 100% at 200beats per minute. The second main contributor to increasing your heart rate isthrough stress.
Doctors have determined that the problem with stress is that ourbody thinks we are still cavemen. There hasn’t been time for us to evolvephysiologically from the high-threat, short-duration stress situations thatprimitive man faced to the relatively low-threat, long-duration stresses ofmodern society. When your body receives a message that you are under stress, itautomatically thinks you are going to do one of two things, fight or run away. The body does not know how to temper its response to deal with the week-longpressure of dooming deadlines or other stresses that we deal with daily. Thisoverkill response, in time, takes a physical toll, especially on thecardiovascular system.
When you are under stress, you are not thriving. Yourblood pressure is elevated, your blood clotting mechanism is working at fullforce, your heart is beating faster than normal and your metabolic rate is up. Keep it for hours and you will be exhausted, for years and you are headed for aheart attack. Doctors place stress as the secondary risk factor for heartdisease.
Stress and video games often go hand in hand. During the last severaldecades, video games have emerged as one of the most popular forms of adolescententertainment. In the United States alone, video game revenues total ten billiondollars annually. On the average, children who have home video games play withthem approximately ninety minutes a day. Some of the trends in game playing aredisturbing some observers. A 1993 study asked 357 seventh and eight graders tolist their preferences among five categories of video games.
The study foundthat fantasy violence topped the list at thirty-two percent. It also find thatboys who play violent games tend to have a lower self-concept in the areas ofacademic ability, peer acceptance and behavior. The most interesting is thepossible link between playing violent video games and subsequent aggressivebehavior. Boys aged eight to fourteen are the core audience for video games. Another study found that a series of three video games played under threeincreasing levels of stress elicited progressively higher values of bloodpressure and heart rate.
Both the race and gender of the subjects affected thereactivity. Heavy video game players have a difficult time with the regard todischarging aggression, and have a lower frustration tolerance. It has beenfound that hostility is increased when playing highly aggressive video games andmildly aggressive games. Subjects playing the high aggression game were muchmore anxious than the other subjects.
In one study, the researcher found thatnot only did the heart rates of the participants increase while playing videogames, but also the rates of those merely watching the game increased. The studydemonstrated clear differences between playing the violent game over anon-violent game. The study also demonstrated strong differences between playingand watching the games in violent verses non-violent games.
