Playing physically active video games may reduce obesity

AORN Journal, May, 2007

Playing video games that require physical activity uses more energy than playing traditional video games and may help reduce childhood obesity, according to a Jan 4, 2007, news release from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Playing video games actually may improve children's health when physical activity is a required part of the game.

Researchers conducted a study of 25 children, 15 of whom were of normal weight and 10 of whom were mildly obese. The researchers measured the energy spent by these children when they were

* sitting and watching television,

* watching television while walking on a treadmill,

* playing traditional video games, and

* playing activity-oriented video games.

Children expended the same amount of energy when playing traditional video games as when sitting and watching television. The energy expended tripled when the children played a virtual, activity-oriented game (ie, a game that simulated catching balls and other objects). For the normal-weight group of children, walking on the treadmill also created a three-fold increase in energy expenditure; however, there was an almost five-fold increase in energy expended in mildly obese children who walked on the treadmill while watching television.

Both groups experienced the greatest expenditure of energy when playing a video game that required dancing. The mildly obese group, however, expended considerably more energy than the normal-weight group, with children in the mildly obese group expending more than six times more energy when playing the dancing video game than when sitting still.

Mayo Clinic Shows Adding Activity to Video Games Fights Obesity [news release]. Rochester, Minn: Mayo Clinic; January 4, 2007. Available at: http://www. mayoclinic.org/news2007-rst/3857.html. Accessed January 5, 2007.