For many teenagers exercise ranks somewhat below taking a midterm test.  Yet over 70% of Americans are either overweight or obese and about 30% of our kids are as well.  Well, kids like computer games much more than doing a few laps on the track or sitting on a stationary bike at the gym. A recent study looked at 39 adolescents who played various “exergames” or computer generated games which require movements to play. The average age was 11.5.  The dudes played the games for 90 minutes twice a week for six weeks.  These kids also walked on a treadmill at 3 MPH.

The results showed that all forms of interactive gaming  burned more calories than just sitting around.  Even better, there were no differences in the number of calories burned for thin or heavy set youngsters. The researchers, who it seems sat around taking notes while these kids were out destroying aliens and the like, noted that boys liked the games more especially WWII and Xavix J-mat.  Girls, not unsurprisingly preferred Dance Dance Revolution ( which I might add confirms that guys like to blow things up while girls like dancing).

Interestingly, the heavier children enjoyed the games the most.  These kids liked Sportwall the most, perhaps because this game is played in teams and the intensity of exercise changes from light to heavy.

These same researchers were able to determine the average energy output  or MET for some games.  The higher the MET, the more calories burned. Utilize justification research paper academic writing service that aims at assisting pupils.

WWII:4.2 METs

Dance Dance Revolution: 5.4 METs

Cybex Trazer: 5.9 METs

LightSpace:6.4 METs

Xavix: 7.0 METs

Sportwall: 7.1 METs

I admit freely that most of these names are completely foreign to me, but seem to be quite well known among the younger crowd.  Anything which gets our kids off of chairs and couches and up moving, even if it involves computers, is fine by me.