Energy Costs of Physically Active Video Gaming: Wii Boxing, Wii tennis, and Dance Dance Revolution

Abstract

Excessive time spent in sedentary behaviors, such as playing video games, is a contributing factor to the ever increasing obesity rate in children. Recently several video gaming systems have become available, such as Nintendo Wii and Dance Dance Revolution, which require more physical activity in order to play the games than does traditional sedentary gaming. However, the energy expenditure while playing these physically active video games is not known. PURPOSE: To examine the energy cost of physically active video games compared to traditional sedentary gaming. METHODS: After obtaining informed consent from the parents and the children, 13 boys and 4 girls were assessed for body composition via DEXA, seated resting oxygen consumption (VO2), and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) during a graded treadmill exercise test. On another day the children played the active video games Wii Boxing (BOX), Wii Tennis (TEN), Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), and a sedentary auto racing video game (SED) for 15 minutes in a randomized order. Heart rate and oxygen consumption were measured continuously during game play. RESULTS: The participants were 11.06 ± 0.40 y (means ± se) and had 22.09 ± 2.06 % body fat. Resting VO2 was 3.42 ± 0.42 ml/kg/min and VO2max was 27.67 ± 2.89 ml/kg/min. Resting heart rate was 94.36 ± 2.28 beats/min and maximal heart rate was 186.71 ± 4.44 beats/min. The VO2 (ml/kg/min) during video gaming was 8.95 ± 1.06, 6.82 ± 1.07, 7.76 ± 1.19, and 3.30 ± 0.55 for BOX, TEN, DDR, and SED, respectively. Energy expenditure during video gaming was 262%, 200%, 227% and 97% of resting for BOX, TEN, DDR, and SED, respectively. The heart rate (beats/min) during video gaming was 128.94 ± 2.77, 116.88 ± 2.40, 121.59 ± 3.68, and 94.69 ± 2.55 for BOX, TEN, DDR, and SED, respectively. Conslusion: These data indicate that traditional sedentary video gaming does not differ from sitting at rest in terms of energy expenditure and that physically active video gaming requires more than twice as much energy expenditure as does traditional video gaming.