Children burn more than four times as many calories per minute playing an active video game than playing a seated game, and their heart rate is also significantly higher with the active game, according to a new report in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
The gaming industry has begun producing active “extertainment” gaming systems. “A recent active gaming concept that allows players to experience various activities (e.g., bowling, fishing, tennis, golf) in a virtual world is the XaviX gaming system. “In addition to the exercise gaming modalities, the XaviX system includes a gaming mat that allows participants to travel the streets of Hong Kong at a walk or a run, avoiding obstacles and stamping out ninjas.”
Researchers at University of Hong Kong measured heart rate and calorie expenditure in 18 children age 6 to 12 during a 25-minute gaming protocol. Participants rested for five minutes, then played a seated computer bowling game, an active bowling game and the action/running game for five minutes each, with five minutes of rest between active games.
Compared with resting, children burned 98 percent more playing active bowling and 451 percent more during the action/running game. “This translates into a more than four-fold increase in energy expenditure for the gaming mat. Preventing weight gain requires an energy adjustment of approximately 150 kilocalories per day. The four-fold increase in energy expenditure when playing on the gaming mat would fill the proposed energy gap, if this game were played for 35 minutes a day.