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Active Videogames Don’t Help Kids Exercise |
Listed in: PSP Tags: videogame exercise, videogame research, videogame studies
In another wobble on the ever-wobbling seesaw of ‘the goodness of videogames’, studies now suggest that activity-based videogames, such as the Wii and Kinect, may indeed not be helping children get their exercise.
Researchers say it’s possible they can ‘still burn a few extra calories’ by playing Wii instead of…not playing it, but children playing these games apparently didn’t log any more exercise than kids who don’t play them.
Wait, what?
In the first week of the research, which involved children wearing belts that tracked exercise and activity, players of active games got an average exercise of 25 – 28 minutes a day, while the ‘inactive’ group got 26-29 minutes a day.
Tom Baranowski, who conducted the research said his team couldn't work out if the kids who played the active games simply didn't put much effort into the games, or if they just compensated by doing little for the rest of the day.
I've seen how focused people can get playing Wii games, so I’d say it’s (as Bruce Lee would put it) a successful combination of both.
It’s an interesting study, and a bit more constructive than other videogame studies purely aimed to demonize videogames, but I think they’re missing the point here. The vast majority of videogames are enjoyed best without having to jump around the room, it’s just part of the gaming experience. Similarly, watching films are best done sitting down for the whole thing, and some music is best dancing to, some best relaxing to.
Videogames aren’t a substitute for exercise, and shouldn't be targeted as such. It’s up to people to get their exercise before playing games (or watching films for that matter), and if they don’t we shouldn't point straight to games.
Your views on this?
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Comments
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Cool story bro. Its the wrong demographic though. I'd expect an adult who has real life responsibilitie s and a more mature outlook on life would probably benefit more from active gaming then a kid. An adult can't slack for the other parts of their day to compensate for active gaming. Either way, there can be exceptions to the rule and I'm sure there are a few kids who actually are more active playing active games. Obviously there is always the potential of being more active. It doesn't mean that the generalization of this study isn't true. The conclusion of this study is basically, if you want a child to lose weight or be more active, buying a Wii isn't an effective solution as it is statistically *improbable* that it will help.
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But then again you gotta have a good diet as well.
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DDR is the best video game activity to keep in shape, it was going really nice until those stupid guitar hero games came out.
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As a parent I can solidly state that these claims are utter crap.
Kid gets up, goes to school, comes home, sits down and plays inactive games.
Kid gets up, goes to school, comes home, plays active games.
And you want us to believe the inactive kids get equal exercise (pretty much)? That is flat out nonsense.
Anything that gets your heart rate up is exercise. Period. Some of these games wear my kids out so much they have to quit playing because they have no more energy. That's exercise no matter how you slice it.
It doesn't substitute quality exercise. However, it's healthy in itself.
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