NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids burned more calories while playing dance and
boxing video games than they did during a sedentary car racing game,
in a new UK study.
Researchers
said it's not surprising children would get their body working harder while
playing a game on Kinect for the Xbox 360 that requires being off the couch and
jumping around.
But it's
still not clear whether that translates to real weight and health differences
for youngsters who have those games at home.
"If the
kids played the games exactly as they played them in this study and they did
that for the amount of time they normally play video games,
that could be very beneficial," said Jacob Barkley, an exercise science
researcher from Kent State University in
Ohio who wasn't involved in the study.
"I
would stop short of saying, ‘Well then just buy your kids the Xbox and they'll
lose weight,'" he told Reuters Health.
That's
because kids may opt for the less-intensive games on the system, or they may
substitute outdoor physical activity for video gaming, he added.
The new
study involved 18 kids aged 11 to 15. Researchers from the University of
Chester had the kids play three different Kinect games for
15 minutes each: Project Gotham Racing 4 (a sedentary game), Dance Central and Kinect Sports Boxing. Kids wore a
heart rate monitor as well as a facemask measuring oxygen consumption so the
researchers could calculate how many calories they were burning.
Heart rate
and energy expenditure were both higher with the active games than the
sedentary comparison, Michael Morris and
his colleagues reported in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
On average,
kids burned calories at a rate of 90 per hour playing the racing game,
180 per hour during Dance Central and 264 per hour while virtual boxing.
That's a
higher expenditure than has been shown with other active gaming systems,
according to Barkley - possibly because Kinect doesn't use a controller, so
it's harder for kids to sit down while playing.
Calorie
expenditure during the boxing game was comparable to what a person would burn
while playing volleyball or table tennis, according to Morris.
"Moderate
activity is obviously very good for you," he told Reuters Health. But, he
added, this study just provides a "snapshot" into possible benefits
from the games.
Kinect runs
for $100 to $200 and the games can be bought for about $20 each.
The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention recommend kids and teens get at least one
hour of physical activity each day. That can include brisk walking or running,
gymnastics or team sports like basketball.
"I
don't think the (Kinect) games are a good substitute for traditional physical
activity," Barkley said. "I do think the games are a good option
relative to a sedentary game."
Morris said
he and his colleagues are now working on a longer-term study in which they give
kids the games at home and track their weight and fitness for a year to see if
active gaming leads to any health changes.
SOURCE:
http://bit.ly/VDdgra Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online
September 24, 2012.
