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Games Entertainment

Late Night Gaming Tweaks The Brain 47

Posted by simoniker from the subliminal-snack-food-adverts-also-prevalent dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Science Blog reports that new research suggests late-night PC gaming tweaks your body's biological clock and melatonin levels, potentially leading to a class of terminally tired techies." According to the survey from the Akita University School Of Medicine in Japan, "performing an exciting video display terminal task fitted with a bright display suppresses the nocturnal changes in melatonin concentration and other elements of our biological clocks. In other words.. [it] might just be the physiological cause of a poor night's sleep."
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Late Night Gaming Tweaks The Brain More

Late Night Gaming Tweaks The Brain

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  • ...that's exactly how I spent my last year of college (late night gaming & snoozing during classes).

  • That's a big 10-4 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ArmorFiend ( 151674 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @10:59PM (#6229624) Homepage Journal
    When I was addicted to starcraft, I'd play till 4 in the morning, then toss and turn in bed till dawn. Perhaps screen brightness contributed. The excitement also hurt -- I was thinking about the game even when I was lying down. I think muscle tenseness, especially on my off-mouse shoulder, was the main culprit.
    • I always felt horrible trying to explain to my girlfriend why I had troubles sleeping.

      Laying in bed trying to figure out if using farms to prevent against zerg rushes was a good use of an initial scv's time, especially on a money map.
    • I wonder if they ever considered the addiction effect of late night gaming as well. I know personally that I've lost numerous hours of sleep to EQ, Civ, or even Freecell. Whether this was the affect of the brightness of the screen or adrenaline, or some other chemical I don't know. Howevert it was very easy to go from being groggy to getting very alert and into a game in a short period of time and then play for hours before fatique set in again.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @11:03PM (#6229656)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • No arguments here. I play games late at night atleast a couple times a week and definetely have trouble sleeping on normal hours.

    I'm not sure that my sleeping schedule is set by the games I play. It could very well be that I just game late at night because I don't feel like sleeping.
  • I could have told you this for free. It's nice to see they're spending their grant money on this....

  • porn. no, seriously. (Score:4, Funny)

    by kilonad ( 157396 ) * on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @11:32PM (#6229861)
    I wonder if looking at porn would have the same effect as playing a computer game. They're both excitatory activities on a bright computer monitor. Mods: don't mod me down, I'm being serious, not funny.
    • im thinking no. why? because its totally different, brain wise. games require you to concentrate, be aware of your surroundings, and to track enemy movements... remeber that scientists are usign gaming to help treat ADHD/ADD. Gaming requires a really active brain, whether you notice or not.... ie; in counter-strike, what are you tracking with your brain? -where you are -where the last enemy you saw is -nearby chokehold/stronghold points -nearby allies -the bomb sites (or similar) -number of players left (r
  • And here I thought it was the staying up until 2 am that made me tired.

    Seriously though, I just finished playing natural selection and I know that it has me all hopped up. I've read that to get better sleep one should do something relaxing before going to sleep. Sort of getting in the mood I guess.
  • if i learn nothing else from a report that only had 7 test subjects (and quite frankly you cant, except maybe about their particular cases), i now know that doing 'exciting tasks' on the computer late at night raises my 'rectal temperature' ... now i have a great excuse as to why i dont wear pants when i game late at night

    "this game of ET in the balance and my ass got warm, so i had to take my pants off, mum. no, i dont how that bunch of sticky tissues got on the floor there either"

  • Solution. (Score:5, Funny)

    by OwnerOfWhinyCat ( 654476 ) * on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @11:40PM (#6229922)
    Someone needs to invent two over the counter drugs to counter these effects.

    1) A morning beverage with a central nervous system stimulant. Preferably served hot for those in cold climates.

    2) A mellow tasty central nervous system depressant that goes well with pizza and will help you get a good nights sleep.

    Wait a minute...
    • It's called: 1.) Cofee 2.) Warm Milk
    • Someone DOES need to invent these. At least update them.

      Our current version of drink A does not actually wake you up, but rather makes you anxious, often mistaken for being awake in this world of degenerate sleeping habits.

      The version of drink B we have now definitely goes well with pizza and there is no room for improvement there. Only, the delivery system could be more efficient. I am thinking taps in every home. However, it does not actually help you get a good nights sleep. Alcohol *interrupts* your s

  • A good's night sleep? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tarison ( 600538 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @11:50PM (#6230010)
    According to the article, the participants had their rectal temperature taken every two minutes between 2300 and 0200. I'd suggest reevaluating the test subjects if they DIDN'T sleep well.
  • These guys are just jealous because they got wooped at UT2k3 last week and they need to use their unrighteous dominion to put down the gamers that did it to them.
  • I have this happen to me a lot. Last night for example, I played a couple of hours of GTA:VC and decided to go the bed at a 11:45 (an early night for me). Well of course, I was restless and couldn't get to sleep till about 2am. The worst part about this is that I start work late the next morning, finish work later, then go to my second (part-time) job later. What happens then? Well, a guys gotta unwind, so I play some GTA for a few hours late at night... etc etc and the cycle continues.
  • we do not have flying cars!!!



  • i can fully agree with this guys conclusions.

    I've felt like shit since ET was released.

    -malakai
  • Before I left for work I played at least 10 mins of a FPS. The place I worked at had a games room for the staff so during the breaks that's where I was.

    Besides, I've done QA and tech support. Out of the two I prefer tech support. True, you have to deal with the 'most difficult' people but at least you can stay awake. The QA job was for Electronic Arts and even though it sounds good, playing the same game over and over and over and over can put your lights out faster than d/l a big pic on a 300 baud!
  • Sigh. And I started browsing only 'cause I couldn't fall asleep in the first place.

  • Salivary melatonin concentration in each subject was measured, as well as rectal temperature...

    Well - wouldn't YOU sleep badly under these conditions?!

    -- Pete.

  • Surprisingly I have not had any of these problems. When I was addicted to Cataclysm I used to sit up till 2 to 3AM every night. It didn't cause me loss of any sleep albeit I slept less than normal.
  • Woah, this has just shattered my whole way of life...

    Normal people get up for a midnight snack, I get up for a midnight dose of Counter-Strike and/or WolfET...

    At least I'm not gonna get any fatter than I already am. :)
  • The researchers obviously didn't play MOO3.

    That'll send you to sleep no worriezzzzzzzzzz
  • Well, this definetly explains why I no longe have sleep cycles. But seriously, I have noticed that it's much easier not to sleep if I'm gaming as opposed to doing work. I'll actually take quick game breaks if I'm pulling an all nighter to stop myself from falling asleep.

  • Rectal temperature? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Mostly Monkey ( 454505 ) on Wednesday June 18, 2003 @07:48AM (#6232148)
    "Rectal temperature was recorded at two-minute intervals during each task. "

    No wonder their bodies didn't produce as much melatonin. They were probably in Fight or Flight mode!
  • Late night bashing on enemy pixels is great stress relief. I'll take screwed up melatonin levels anyday over tossing and turning all night from pent-up anxiety.

  • ...playing games at night is the same as drinking a pot of coffee before bedtime.

    Man, I could have produced results like this for a dollar. Five dollars if the Rectal monitoring is needed.

    Dolemite
    _____________________
  • I have this problem, but not just because of gaming. Doing anything on a computer into late hours can give me sleeping problems. If I'm coding then I'll go to bed thinking about the functions that I wrote that evening and how to tweak them the next day... and so forth.
    I've found that the easiest way for me to relax is to read a book. Even if it's a book on coding, reading puts me to sleep quick. So, I don't know if it'll work for anyone else, but I would encourage that you give reading a try before yo
  • I skimmed the article and it only stated that they were playing on a 17" monitor.

    I usually play games with old college friends until about 11pm most nights. I have a 20" CRT. I've heard in several other articles that LCDs are a lot easier on the user since they're not firing the pixel gun constantly at your head :) Anybody with experience on both types of monitors?

  • Ok I bet this little experiment they took was with the average joe. I mean if they took a guy who LANs frequently I bet he would only need like a good 4 hours of sleep for a whole day. You see it's all condtioning, I can last two days on 2 hours of sleep. All you need to do is train yourself to gain the most efficent sleep possible or try what Kramer did on Seinfeld and sleep 20 minutes every hour.

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