Virtual boxing, tennis and dancing along with video game systems may not be helping children meet daily exercise requirements, according to a US study. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas found that children who were given so-called active video games to play on a Nintendo Wii didn't end up logging any more moderate or vigorous physical activity than those given games they could play sitting on the couch. Some public health researchers have hoped that active video games might be an alternative to outdoor play and sports for at least some of the physical activity children need, especially for those who live in unsafe neighborhoods where playing outside isn't always an option. For the study, they distributed Wii consoles to 78 children aged 9 to 12 years old who didn't already have one. Half were given their choice of an active game, such as Wii Sports or Dance Dance Revolution-Hottest Party 3, and the other half their choice of inactive game, such as Disney Sing-It Pop Hits or Super Mario Galaxy. Baranowski and his colleagues tracked the children for 13 weeks, testing their physical activity levels with a motion-measuring device called an accelerometer. Accelerometer logs showed that throughout the study period, children with the active games didn't get any more exercise than those given inactive video games. There was also no difference in the time spent doing light physical activity or being sedentary during any week the researchers monitored. Baranowski said his team couldn't tell if children just didn't exert much energy playing the active games, or if they compensated for exercise they got playing Wii with less exercise at other points in the day. Researchers said that while the games were no substitute for the real thing, they might be better than no exercise at all. “Maybe the Wii isn't going to increase physical activity a whole lot,” said Jacob Barkley, an exercise scientist from Kent State University in Ohio who didn't take part in the study. “But it might increase caloric expenditure a bit more than a traditional sedentary video game, and if you do that on a daily basis that could have a cumulative effect that might be beneficial.”
