Video Gaming: An Alternative Form of Exercise for Children with Sedentary Lifestyle

A latest Australian study suggests that active console video games may act as an alternative form of exercise for children with sedentary lifestyles.

The researchers from the University of Western Australia, Liverpool John Moores University and Swansea University said that a lot of children are obese and physically inactive now a days. Less than 50 percent of primary school-aged boys and less than 28 percent of young girls meet the required levels of physical activity to maintain health.

Researchers studied the effects of exergaming in active console video games that track movements of the player to control the games such as Xbox-Kinect or Wii.

Dr Louise Naylor along with fellow researchers studied 15 children aged between 9 and 11 years of age. These children participated in 15 minutes each of high intensity exergaming (Kinect Sports - 200m Hurdles), low intensity exergaming (Kinect Sports - Ten Pin Bowling) and a graded exercise test (treadmill).

The researchers calculated the energy expenditure and the vascular response to each activity through flow-mediated dilation (FMD), an authenticated measure of vascular function and health in children.

They found that high intensity exergaming extracted energy equivalent to moderate intensity exercise; low intensity exergaming resulted in energy expenditure equivalent to low intensity exercise.

The study also found that even though the low intensity exergaming did not have any impact on FMD, high intensity exergaming significantly decreased FMD. This means that higher intensity exergaming may improve vascular health in children. Such type of gaming also increased heart rate and burned good amount energy.

Children said that they had similar enjoyment levels with both intensities of exergaming. "Higher intensity exergaming may be a good form of activity for children to use to gain long-term and sustained health benefits," said Dr Naylor.