Acute effects of violent video-game playing on blood pressure and appetite perception in normal-weight young men: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Watching television and playing video game being seated represent sedentary behaviours and increase the risk of weight gain and hypertension. We investigated the acute effects of violent and non-violent video-game playing on blood pressure (BP), appetite perception and food preferences. Forty-eight young, normal-weight men (age: 23.1±1.9 years; body mass index: 22.5±1.9 kg/m(2)) participated in a three-arm, randomized trial. Subjects played a violent video game, a competitive, non-violent video game or watched TV for 1 h. Measurements of BP, stress and appetite perception were recorded before a standardized meal (∼300 kcal) and then repeated every 15 min throughout the intervention. Violent video-game playing was associated with a significant increase in diastolic BP (Δ±s.d.=+7.5±5.8 mm Hg; P=0.04) compared with the other two groups. Subjects playing violent video games felt less full (P=0.02) and reported a tendency towards sweet food consumption. Video games involving violence appear to be associated with significant effects on BP and appetite perceptions compared with non-violent gaming or watching TV.

Effect of movie violence on mood, stress, appetite perception and food preferences in a random population

“…Movie types did not seem to affect directly hunger or appetite but rather triggered some food preferences, such as a preference for sweet after a romance movie, which was the opposite for a horror movie. Those results are different from the previous results by Sievro et al 6 in which they showed that men who played violent games had a higher preference for sweet foods. The difference can be explained by two hypotheses: first, in our study there was no randomization (only convenient sampling), which means that we are not sure whether the people who prefer sweet usually pick romanticcomedy movies and people who prefer fatty or salty food usually pick violent/thriller movies.…”

“…Our study, which completes previous work by Sievro et al 6 on violence in video games, elucidates the acute effect of violence and its consequent stress on food intake and preferences in a reallife setting. Our study is a step forward going beyond the classical energy balance theory for explaining obesity.…”

“…Would watching violent scenes affect our appetite control system through stress and shift our food preferences? Recently, Siervo et al 6 have found that in a randomized controlled setting playing video games involving violence affected blood pressure and appetite compared with playing nonviolent games or watching TV; they concluded that the harmful physiological effects of violent video games extend beyond their contribution to sedentary behavior.…”

Access to Primary Care in England—Reply

“…2 In 2012-2013, the GP Patient Survey obtained 0.97 million responses, corresponding to approximately 2% of the English population. 3 Although the response rate was relatively low (35%), a weighting scheme was applied to the responses to account for the possibility of nonresponse bias and ensure representativeness of the eligible population. 3 A simulated patient study similar in design to that reported by Rhodes et al 4 has demonstrated the construct validity of measures of access derived from the GP Patient Survey.…”

“…3 Although the response rate was relatively low (35%), a weighting scheme was applied to the responses to account for the possibility of nonresponse bias and ensure representativeness of the eligible population. 3 A simulated patient study similar in design to that reported by Rhodes et al 4 has demonstrated the construct validity of measures of access derived from the GP Patient Survey. 5 Compared with the results presented by Rhodes et al, 4 wait times for appointments in England are typically shorter than in the sampled US states, for both privately insured and Medicaid patients.…”