Mom, can I have a video ga... Uh, I mean exercise machine?

[rs]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070201/tc_nm/videogame_health_dc_4

Dancing video game helps kids avoid weight gain

Thu Feb 1, 6:07 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - West Virginia, which has the worst childhood obesity problem in the United States, is stepping up plans to use Konami Corp.'s "Dance Dance Revolution" to battle the bulge in its schools.

The state, which plans to put the popular dancing video game in every one of its public schools, said on Wednesday research suggested that it helped put a halt to weight gain.

Preliminary results from a 24-week study of 50 overweight or obese children, aged 7 to 12, showed that those who played the game at home for at least 30 minutes five days per week maintained their weight and saw a reduction in some risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

The study's control group included a dozen children who did not play the game for the first 12 weeks, then did so for remainder of the study period. Those children piled on an average of 6 pounds during the first portion of the study but saw their weight stabilize in the second half.

The West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency sponsored the research project, which primarily involved children of its policy holders.

Food intake was not monitored as part of the study, said Emily Murphy, a pediatric exercise physiologist from the West Virginia University School of Medicine's pediatrics department, who was part of the research team.

Murphy said that, prior to the study, most of the children reported feeling awkward about participating in gym and physical activity at school.

Following the study, children from the group reported feeling more confident and willing to try other exercises, she said.

Murphy West Virginia plans to develop after-school clubs for playing the game.

"It's going to allow kids to be active in an after-school activity that's not sports," she said.

Obesity has been rising fast around the globe, prompting health experts to warn that lifestyle-related illnesses like heart disease and diabetes may cut average life expectancy for generations of youth.

Sigh, I guess if it gets kids off the couch, away from the Boob Toob and moving, it has some benefit...

 

[Cyre2067]

Heh this game rocks.... great Youtubes with kids doing crazy stuff.

It's very do what your told though. The machine generates a pattern for you to mimic by hitting directional floor pads at the right moment. So the best player can do what he's told the most accurately and the fastest. Only played it a few times, it's best in the arcade. Hard to play from home.

 

[Lucy]

It's very do what your told though.

Similar to a work out class at a gym?

I know a couple of adults who aren't into video games (although their husbands are) who get together a couple times a week to use this game to exercise together because it's fun, they can do it at home without babysitting problems, and it provides a good cardio workout.

 

[Azur]

It's very do what your told though.

Similar to a work out class at a gym?

I know a couple of adults who aren't into video games (although their husbands are) who get together a couple times a week to use this game to exercise together because it's fun, they can do it at home without babysitting problems, and it provides a good cardio workout.

On the lighter side,

Are you implying that husbands and adults are from a disjoint set?

 

[Lucy]

It's very do what your told though.

Similar to a work out class at a gym?

I know a couple of adults who aren't into video games (although their husbands are) who get together a couple times a week to use this game to exercise together because it's fun, they can do it at home without babysitting problems, and it provides a good cardio workout.

On the lighter side,

Are you implying that husbands and adults are from a disjoint set?

Oh dear, I wonder, was that a Freudian slip on my part? Quite possibly it was! :D Good catch Azur.

However, in this case I didn't consciously intend to imply that. I meant to convey that I have two adult women friends....and although they aren't "into" video games themselves, they have access to them because their husbands are "into" them...allowing them to make use of Dance Revolution for exercise.

However, as I write this I realize, and must confess, I do harbor certain ideas about those husbands of theirs, and what it means that they spend so much time playing video games.