WEDNESDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Compared with traditional sedentary video game playing, active video game playing (e.g., using the Xbox 360) significantly increases heart rate, oxygen uptake, and energy expenditure, according to research published online Sept. 24 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Stephen R. Smallwood, of the University of Chester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a study involving 18 schoolchildren aged 11 to 15 years to evaluate the physiologic response and energy expenditure associated with active video game playing using two Kinect activity-promoting video games, compared with that of traditional sedentary video games. Ten boys and eight girls were included and they played a sedentary game, a dance game, and a boxing sports game for 15 minutes each.
Compared with rest and sedentary video game play, the researchers found significant increases in heart rate, oxygen uptake, and energy expenditure during activity-promoting video game play. Energy expenditure was increased by 150 and 263 percent above resting values for the dance and boxing games, respectively. These values were 103 and 194 percent higher, respectively, than for traditional video gaming.
"Although it is unlikely that active video game play can single-handedly provide the recommended amount of physical activity for children or expend the number of calories required to prevent or reverse the obesity epidemic, it appears from the results of this study that Kinect active game play can contribute to children's physical activity levels and energy expenditure, at least in the short term," the authors write.
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