Think working up a sweat playing Nintendo Wii Tennis is a substitute for exercise, think again. Wii jocks will have to hit the treadmill like everyone else if they want to stay fit.
According to a study by the British Medical Journal, while the Wii provides more activity than passive videogames it is still no replacement for getting some good old fashioned exercise.
Wii is unlike other video game consoles out there. A standard videogame only requires players to move their thumbs and index fingers, whereas the Wii actually requires players to move their hand or occasionally their entire arm to interact with the game. The Wii console has done much to get couch potatoes off their duff and playing video games – but apparently not enough.
For the British Medical Journal study boys and girls between the ages of 13-15 were selected to play both an Xbox 360 game (Project Gotham Racing 3) and Wii games (Wii Sports). Later the Journal would compare calories burned by the kids while playing each of the games.
The results were unsurprisingly. The Wii used on average 51 percent more energy than playing a sedentary Xbox 360 game. The Wii Sport game Wii Tennis demanded the most energy from study participants with an energy expenditure of 750 kilo joule (a kilo joule is an international system unit for measuring energy). Wii Boxing expended 730kJ and Wii Bowling at 700kJ. By comparison, playing Xbox 360 games had a mean energy expenditure of 450kJ – a measurement just slightly higher than resting (300kJ).
For me, a lifelong console game junkie, there was no surprise when I read the study's results. It's a big "duh" that playing Wii uses more energy than a standard videogames. I also was not surprised when the study looked at real world sports like tennis and compared it to playing Wii Tennis.
Sorry to break the bad news to all you folks whose New Year's resolution was stay fit by playing more Wii Sport games.
Source: http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006128.html
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