Some Wii programs produce the equivalent of moderate-intensity exercise. #SS09

OK, so maybe your kid – the one who can’t be ripped from his (or her) video games – may actually find a job after all that involves their passion (obsession?). A number of new approaches to health rely on Wii technology. Although I can't confirm it, I suspect a number of these new program developers were video game players when they were younger and may have even been in that hard core group referred to derisively as vidiots. Parents, if you are stressed about your kids' obsessive game playing, you might want to relax a little. Maybe all this obsessive playing could lead to a research career.

For example, the Nintendo system could save lives. This was the conclusion of some experts after a group of students developed a program to teach CPR using a Wii. http://bit.ly/nDFcu Older adults are benefiting when they use Wii because it turns the games enhance physical movement, thereby helping build coordination and agility while playing virtual tennis, bowling, or darts on a Wii system. Also, a number of studies are now or will soon be underway to evaluate video games for their ability to boost thinking skills among the elderly. http://bit.ly/4BBJDL Even the Mayo Clinic recently summarized the work in this field by noting that interactive video games have a role in good health. http://bit.ly/2cia0y

In this latest report, presented at the 2009 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, researchers found that some Wii sports and Wii fit activities can increase adults’ energy expenditure as much as moderately intense exercise. The study was done under the auspices of the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Tokyo, Japan, and funded by Nintendo. The investigators found that “the range of energy expenditure in these active games is sufficient to prevent or to improve obesity and lifestyle-related disease, from heart disease and diabetes to metabolic diseases.”

Of the games studied, boxing was the most effective for increasing energy expenditure, with golf, bowling, tennis and baseball associated with more moderate exercise levels. The most effective Wii fit exercise was the single-arm stand, which involves standing up and lying down. The intensities of yoga and balance exercise (using the Wii system) were significantly lower than those of resistance and aerobic exercise, but these exercises still could improve flexibility and help in fall prevention.

Motohiko Miyachi, Ph.D., lead author of the study, plays active video games himself and recommends these active games rather than sedentary video games. The study’s findings about energy expenditure, he said, apply to Americans as well as Japanese and to younger and older people.