Computer games have long been regarded as the bane of today’s children causing weight gain and numbness to the brain. But with the explosion of motion gaming from the likes of PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and XBox may revolutionize its image. A recent two-year study conducted by the University of Auckland in New Zealand found that sustained use of games that had an active element like dance mats or motion sensors can be good for overweight children.
The study included 300 children showed a positive effect on the body mass index of the active gamers aged between 10 and 14, compared to the control group of children who were not regularly playing the games. According to principal investigator Ralph Maddison, the effects were small but showed gaming could play a role in enabling kids to remain active.
“The study findings show that this technology has the potential to be a useful addition to a raft of health interventions. It could have significant implications for health professionals to combat the obesity epidemic or develop rehabilitation programs,” he said.
“Also because of the appeal of traditional video games, at an individual level, parents may have more success encouraging the substitution of sedentary video games with more active ones rather than trying to stop children and young people from gaming altogether.”
The advancement of the motion sensor technology doesn’t seem to be stopping potentially creating more fun and incentives to be active by playing video games. I guess this isn’t your father’s asteroids game anymore, huh?
If you wanting to rent one of these game systems to try out or for the birthday party, go to your local rent to own store and check out how easy and convenient the rent to own option is.
Just another ShopRTO computer games tip.