Research: exergames break link between video games and childhood obesity

One of the evils that's linked obesity in children - video games - is now being used to promote physical activity by using physically active exergames, research shows.

"When we talk about obesity, we often talk about the fast-food industry," said Laurette Dube, organizer of the 2008 McGill Health Challenge Think Tank. "But that's only one side of the equation - the energy-in side. We also have to look at the energy-out side, and that's why it's very important to look at ways in which we can reduce kids' inactive time and increase their share of time that gets them moving."

Exergames keep kids moving and balance the energy equation, which has shown in new study. The study shows that obese and overweight children who play exergames don't gain weight but in fact improve their physiological function.

Linda Carson, a professor of physical education West Virginia University created two groups of overweight children. The first group spent 12 weeks with a variety of exergames. The second group continued with their regular routine.

After the 12 weeks were up, the researchers discovered that the children in the second group gained weight. But the children in the exergaming group maintained their weight, while improving their aerobic ability and endothelial capacity.

Read the full article here.

Research: Exergaming 6 times more popular than exercise alone

In this blog we will be sharing research that is relevant to the adoption of exergaming in physical education at school. Common sense tells us that children are engaged by exergaming, the combination of exercise with video games. This post reports on this assumption under test.

This research was completed in July 2007 and set out to determine the free choice in activity of children aged between 7 and 11 yrs, when given three activity stations:

• Traditional games with no physical activity


• Exergaming stair step and cycle fitness machines on PlayStation 2


• Stair step and cycle fitness machines with no games connection

Upon arrival the children were told they could use anything they wanted to. Water was provided as the only drink and the children’s parents were asked not to interact or influence their child’s choices.

As the chart above shows, in unstructured play, children aged 7-11 years choose exergaming over traditional games and exercise. For those teachers who start each PE lesson examining a handful of excuse notes, it is useful to know that children can be engaged in exercise - by adding video games.

Given free choice the children were 6 times more likely to engage in physical activity if it is combined with games.

The exercise station and the exergaming station have the same cardiovascular equipment and the same calorific burn. The time spent on each station showed lack of motivation to exercise being a key factor in obtaining fitness benefits. It was also observed the rate and consistency of exercise was much lower on the exercise station, although this has not been reflected in the chart above.

The summary we can take from these observations is that children are engaged by exergaming, and in using exergaming we get significant physical effort from the children.

For further reading download the report in pdf format.