A study says that watching a hockey game live or on television may lead to a rise in heart rate, that can have a substantial effect on the cardiovascular system.

The findings showed that there was a 75 per cent increase in heart rate in TV viewers and 110 per cent rise in heart rate from watching a game live.

These are equivalent to the heart rate response that occurs with moderate and vigorous physical stress, respectively.

Watching a sports match can stress your heart just as much as playing in the game itself, suggests a small new study in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

Researchers found that people’s pulses increased by 75% when they watched a hockey game on television and by 110% when watching one in person—equivalent to the cardiac stress of vigorous exercise.

The new research involved 20 adults living in Montreal who had no history of heart disease. They gave information about their general health and filled out a “fan passion” questionnaire to determine how invested they were in their local National Hockey League team, the Montreal Canadiens.

Then, researchers from the University of Montreal measured everyone’s pulse while they watched a Canadiens game. Half watched on television, and half attended the game in an arena. They found that TV viewers’ heart rates increased by an average of 75%, and game attendees’ heart rates increased by 110%.

That’s about equal to the heart-rate bump seen during moderate-to-vigorous exercise, the authors say. Participants’ heart rates stayed above the threshold for moderate physical activity for about 39 minutes when watching a game on television. For those in the arena, heart rates stayed above the moderate-activity threshold for 72 minutes, and above the vigorous-activity threshold for almost 13.