Dancing video game helps kids avoid weight gain

[marygaspe]

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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.

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Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.

 

[ottawabill]

hmm..maybe instead..after school..the kids could go OUTSIDE and play real games....
like baseball, or maybe they could err run..yes run...it's amazingly cheaper too

 

[thomaska]

Just what we need, a bunch of fat, white West Virginian kids who can't dance, showing up on the news.ukeright:

No wonder everyone wants to kill us.:laughing7:

 

[tamarin]

Well, if all the horror stories about childhood obesity prove true we won't have to worry about a future demographic bulge. Maybe Mother Nature is behind it all. Meanwhile, they should all walk to school and participate in daily fitness programs. No cellphones, no play stations 'til they're 25.

 

[canadarocks]

Well, if all the horror stories about childhood obesity prove true we won't have to worry about a future demographic bulge. Maybe Mother Nature is behind it all. Meanwhile, they should all walk to school and participate in daily fitness programs. No cellphones, no play stations 'til they're 25.

Maybe we as parents can make the first step for them, and throw them out of the house to play in the monring when they're off school instead of letting them stay inside on machines and snacking.

 

[Riyko]

DDR is a good way to help kids lose weight while still playing video games. I play DDR every other day for 4-5 hours a day at the hardest level, but I also go out and run 3 miles, plus weight training. I do agree that kids should walk to school and play more sports instead of video games.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

30 minutes 3 times a week with heart rate over 125 bpm is all it takes. Watch all the workout equipment commercials.

 

[tamarin]

At least, more and more people are taking notice. Late in the fall in one school district, parents organized a walk-to-school program where kids were actually bused to a certain location where parent volunteers waited. Then en masse they walked to school for morning classes. I thought that was a good idea.
Lately in the press 'children's fitness centres' have brought some attention as some budding entrepreneurs see a silver lining to the obesity epidemic. Obviously something has to be done. I just wish forces could be mobilized to fight global warming as enthusiastically as what we've witnessed with this issue.

 

[sanctus]

Maybe we as parents can make the first step for them, and throw them out of the house to play in the monring when they're off school instead of letting them stay inside on machines and snacking.

I've done just that during summer holidays. Basically said, ok , get outside and play. there is too much catering to children these days.Many adults seem to forget that they are the adults.