Video games increase heart rate

A group of boys aged between 12 and 15 were asked to play two different games in the evening, one focused on violence, while the other had no violent features. Heart rates were monitored both throughout the gameplay, then during the rest evening and finally while they slept.

The research, carried out by researchers at a number of Swedish universities, seems to show that effects of gaming don’t just stop when you switch your system off, but have a continued physiological effect without you even being aware of it, although none of the test subjects reported grabbing a few headshots before bed had resulted in a bad night's sleep.