Today, physical inactivity is a leading risk factor for many noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. One of the many reasons of insufficient physical activity is due to the fact that a lot of children these days’ sit and play games instead of actually physically moving their bodies. Many studies have looked at strategies to reduce physical inactivity in children and a way to help them enjoy playing games and meet their physical activity guidelines is the development of active video games (AVG). Video games that require the use of physical activity rather than just a hand held controller are referred to as active video games. AVG is an unfolding technology with the possibilities to control the current …show more content…
A study examined children's skill execution while playing Xbox Kinect™ and during movement skill assessment. AVG play showed evidence of correct skill performance, nearly all skills were more correctly performed during skill assessment. Skills used to play sports such as baseball or tennis are not naturally acquired. That is why AVGs like the Xbox Kinect™ help children acquire those skills and participate in sports and physically active games later in life. Research also shows a strong relationship between lack of competency in these skills and decreased physical activity in children. Without early development of movement skills, children are at risk of being less physically active and would lead to noncommunicable diseases. Therefore, promoting children's mastery in movement skills through AVGs are important for children's health. In addition, while playing AVGs, children are able to imitate and move their bodies accordingly to the how that games plays. Although is does not entirely replace the traditional sport, it helps children feel how it is like which would also help motivate them to participate in real
For years, Americans have been told that exercising and staying active is imperative to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In general, this fact holds true for all generations and age groups, including the youth of today. Children simply need to exercise and participate in more physical activities in order to maintain a high level of health. The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools suggests that, “one of the leading causes of this epidemic (childhood obesity) is a marked decline in physical activity and athletic participation” (“Athletics in Schools”). Childhood fascinations with watching television, playing video games, and browsing the internet are just a few of the sedentary hobbies taking over children’s free time to be active. Therefore, mandating physical activities in schools across the country will effectively reduce the frequency of this major, obesity health crisis in young students. Understandably, a plethora of factors cause and influence children to become overweight and obese, but working to fix each evident problem will, in the end, contribute to finally ending the developing childhood health crisis.
Playing video games could help spread health awareness. Students who study in university which far away from home and family usually less concern about their body. This is because at home parents always look after them in the aspect of health. The parents more concern about the child health condition more than the child himself. If the child fall sick they easily notice and act fast to treat them. In some video games, the main character packed with health meter or gauge. High and low level of this health gauge may influence the gameplay. The higher the better. In particular video games, the player need to let the character to have regular exercise, healthy diet or enough rest to increase the health gauge just like how a really human body need to stay in shape. Next, video games could promote exercise. Based on ABC News (2011), healthy combination of physical and mental exercise exist in the latest motion-controlled game console. These type of video games allowed one to exercise the body while enjoying the games. The games required the player to move their body in order to keep progressing and controlling the main character. Player tend to exercise their body seriously due to the excitement and concentration toward the
In a study conducted by Patricia M. Anderson and Kristen F Butcher who have written “Childhood Obesity: Trend and Potential Causes “has stated “based on Nielsen data, overall daily minutes of television watching has climbed over the decades. The statistics show that it has increase by 15% from 1990’s to 2000’. Children may be also substitute other forms of media, including videos, videos games and the internet, for television watching. According to a 1999 study, children spent 19.3 hours a week watching television, another 2.3 hours playing video games, and a 2.5 hours in front of the computer internet just over one day of “screen time” a week”. A policy statement from “The American Heart Association written by Deborah R. Young, PHD” stated that “regular physical activity is an important behavior for general health and to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, obesity and some forms of cancer”. She suggest that children should have at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily. The National Football League has also joined the forces by promoting “Play 60” which is a campaign to encourage kids to be active for 60 minutes a day in order to help reverse the trend of childhood
Healthy People implemented an extensive list of physical activity objectives targeting youth of all ages. The objectives are all aimed at promoting the health benefits of maintaining a physically active life-style. The following objective targets a major area of concern for the medical community and the increase of inactivity among today's youth; “PA-8.2.2; Increase the proportion of children and adolescents aged 6 to 14 years who view television, videos, or play video games for no more than 2 hours a
Video games do not meet the definition of a sport and there is a lack of “physical exertion” while playing video games. Third place winner of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Unlimited Global Championship, Alexandre Laverez shows that there are no skills necessary to play video games and become a pro at it. There are health issues caused from playing video games such as sleep deprivation and lack vitamin D. From the rise of technology, video games are becoming more complex and strategic, but video games should stay as games, not
There are few ways to combat obesity that involves collaboration among schools, families, and communities. One way is reducing sedentary time. During this time at home parents can limit the amount of time children watch television and play video games. This is important because it has shown in studies that a large amount of time watching media plays a major role in obesity. In addition to this, parents can engage children in fun game for physical activities. Parents should also encourage physical activity as much as possible. When physical activities are fun, children are more than likely to engage. Teachers
Exergaming is composed of video games that require physical movement from the participant, and it is an alternative form of exercise proposed for elementary aged students. The study uses exergaming and the transtheoretical model of behavior change in order to assess the effectiveness of using exergaming on children’s physical activity levels and their stage of change.
This argument is relevant because the young people only stop playing video games when they realize that they are starving, and need food, and at 4:15 in the morning. Furthermore, as argued by Joel Schectman in Heart Group Backs Video Games in Obesity Campaign, “We can keep beating the drum on traditional exercise and make small changes to the obesity epidemic” We can improve these problems by changing video games, there are some video games that try to do standing exercises. This helps the lovers of video games do more than just stay in the same position and
When playing video games, the coordination and concentration can physically, socially, and mentally benefit the user. Research today shows that certain video games can reduce fat and therefore promote weight loss. Other sources state that doctors have instructed parents to let their children play video games to help control focus. It is found that video games can improve hand eye
Virtual reality is becoming more advanced and popular each day with new research raising the standards in gaming. An augmented reality smartphone game called Pokémon go has set new records and influenced some good readings. Researchers have been studying what effects Pokémon Go may have among players. In the article “Pokémon GO: Healthy or harmful?” by Victoria R Wagner-Greene, et al, they show the potential harms and benefits among active players. The second article “Influence of Pokémon Go on Physical Activity Levels of University Players: A Cross-Sectional Study” by Fiona Y Wong, informs the reader about sedentary lifestyle and how Pokémon Go helps reduce sedentary behaviors. In contrast, the two articles are different but both are great sources that provide; supporting detail and statistics of how Pokémon go can be beneficial and harmful for the player.
Even if the games are not violent, another side effect that video games have on the health of children is with exercising. In a
Many young children and teenagers have heard their mother’s incessant plead to get away from the screen and to go outside or pick up a book for once instead. The urge to play “just one more level” before starting that homework or doing those chores can be quite distracting. But are video games really as awful as Mom exclaims or as brutal as those TV ads depict? It turns out that video games can have a strong impact on participants’ lives in both positive as well as negative ways.
Beside the mental effects of gaming, lay the physical effects. Another belief of gaming is that it is physically threatening, and if not taken in moderation, that may be true, but at face value, some video games can be a very useful tool for physical fitness. “Serious” games, as mentioned previously, are games that are designed for personal improvement, but as stated by Mark Baxter, “serious” games are just a subgenre of a more encompassing genre known as lifestyle games. According to Baxter, these games lack the more academic focus typically associated with “serious” games, yet still focus primarily on improvement through tier one gaming experiences. An example he gives of a successful lifestyle game is Wii Fit, which is a game that consists of exercise activities. He also claims that games like these have been adopted in several physiotherapy rehabilitation centers (Brain Health and Online Gaming). Baxter is right on this claim. These lifestyle games, also known as fitness games, contain a variety of physical benefits, including rehabilitation, and thankfully, several console designers are attempting to embrace these positives. In 2006, Nintendo released the Wii console, which is the console Baxter’s example was played on. It saw large commercial success due to its ability to provide gamers with an entertaining and physically stimulating experience, selling over one-hundred million units worldwide. This console allowed players to exercise in a unique way that entertaining,
Numerous children today are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, or video-game console. Even worse, some schools have banned the use of balls used at recess. An article in the Toronto
In today’s society children are increasingly becoming less active. Lack of physical activity in childhood leads to obesity, can increase one’s risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, and poor health status. Physical inactivity also increases one’s risk for dying prematurely, dying of heart disease, and colon cancer. Technology and video games have become a major factor in this and have seemed to take over and control lives of many children. Less children are involved with sports and few play outside. The lack of physical activity as a child, can pay huge dividends in the child’s health, into his/her adulthood.