Gaming Can Help You Lose Weight, A Tiny Little Bit

Stuart Houghton — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:20:00 MDT

Yes! Finally, we can put aside little misdemeanors like the Atomic Bomb and Global Warming — science is A-Ok! New research from the University of Hong Kong claims to show that playing video games is a form of exercise.

Not just physical games like Wii Fit, mind you — even regular thumb-based gaming can help you fight the flab.

Before you all rush off and cancel your gym memberships, bear in mind that this report was in UK tabloid The Sun as opposed to, say, New Scientist or Nature.

The key may lie with this quote -

Tests showed holding a control and moving your arms to navigate characters burned 40 per cent more calories than doing nothing.

Well, ok. Calorie-Count.com estimates that you burn 68 calories an hour just sitting around breathing and growing hair. An extra 40% of that comes to around 95 calories an hour. A short walk will burn around 275 calories - around the amount found in a Snickers - which might explain why you see so few games consoles in your local gym.

Computer Games Can Help You Stay Slim [The Sun]

Kids Can Burn Calories While Gaming

torif — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:00:00 MST

There's yet another study on obesity, children, and video games. Y'know, just for a change of pace. But wait! This one was done by The Mayo Clinic, making it somewhat reputable! And what makes this study different from all the others? Instead of looking at, "Do video games make kids fat? Y/N," the study looked at just how much energy kids used while playing traditional games, watching TV, playing virtual camera games placing the child on the screen, watching TV while walking on a treadmill, and playing a dancing game. The study had a small sample group, with 15 children considered in the "normal" weight range for their age and height, and 10 children considered mildly obese.

The most interesting result of the study? The dancing game actually expended more energy than walking on the treadmill. Hit the jump for exactly what those results were.

While watching TV and playing traditional video games, both groups of kids expended the same about of energy. Using the camera game, they used three times the amount of energy. Walking on the treadmill, the normal weight kids used three times the energy, while the mildly obese kids used five times the energy. Both groups used the most energy in the dancing game, with the mildly obese group burning six times the amount of energy than sitting still.

I think this study would have been made all the more interesting if they'd used more current games, like anything for the Wii, Wii Fit in particular, but the results are kinda neat, nonetheless.

Mayo Clinic Shows Adding Activity to Video Games Fights Obesity [KIII TV]

Kotaku: Weight loss

Gaming Can Help You Lose Weight, A Tiny Little Bit

Kids Can Burn Calories While Gaming