Study: Wii Sports Not Enough Exercise for Kids

December 27, 2007 6:37 a.m. EST

Liverpool, U.K. (AHN) - A study done by scientists from the Liverpool John Moores University revealed that physical activities from playing Nintendo's Wii Sports are not enough to give a child the appropriate amount of daily exercise.

For the experiment, funded by Nintendo, scientists gathered subjects of six boys and five girls, all aged 13-15, and asked the children to play the games featured on Wii Sports as well as games for Microsoft's Xbox 360. The children were asked to play games for a total of 15 minutes.

The results of the experiment showed that although the amount of exercise obtained from playing with the Wii slightly more calories than when playing with the Xbox, scientists deemed the total amount of physical activity as not enough to meet the recommended needs for children.

Although the researchers admitted that the total exercise gained from playing the Wii was not enough, according to Wired.com, they did commend the gaming console for managing to get usually sedentary kids up on their feet.

"Given the current prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity," said the study, "such positive behaviors should be encouraged."

Said the study, published on the British Journal of Medicine, "In a typical week of computer play for these three participants, active gaming rather than passive gaming would increase total energy expenditure by less than two per cent," quoted News.com.au.

"The energy used when playing Wii Sports games was not of high enough intensity to contribute towards the recommended daily amount of exercise in children," according to the authors.

The study will be featured on the BJM's Saturday edition.