|
 Also called "exergaming," popular games such as "Just Dance for
Kids" and "Nickelodeon Fit" prompt kids to move around while they
play. The current study found that compared to kids in preschool who
played in traditional recess, those who played exergames got
significantly more physical activity.
"Regular physical activity participation plays a crucial role in
preventing and curbing childhood obesity among young children," said
study leader Zan Gao of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
The prevalence of childhood obesity in the U.S. has grown from 6.5
percent to 17 percent in the past three decades, partially because
of low physical activity, his team writes in the Journal of Sport
and Health Science.
"Unfortunately, most preschools offer few opportunities for children
to engage in structural physical activity programs and few studies
have examined the effectiveness of specific physical activity
interventions in this age group," he told Reuters Health by email.
Gao and colleagues worked with 65 preschoolers from two urban
schools in underserved Minneapolis communities. The children were
randomly assigned to two groups. Five days a week, one group did
typical outside recess for 20 minutes of playing, while the
exergaming group had 20 minutes of gaming.
Before and after the eight-week program, researchers assessed the
amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity the children got,
as well as their motor skills and their confidence in their own
ability to accomplish certain tasks.
The exergaming group got more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
during the program than the recess group. Overall, boys got more
activity when exergaming than girls.
Motor skills and confidence also increased in the exergaming group
by the end of the program, although the differences from the recess
group were too small to rule out the possibility they were due to
chance.
[to top of second column] |
"We should recognize that children have the right to play and ensure
they have physical spaces that provide the opportunity for
unstructured creative and movement exploration," said Lisa Barnett
of Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, who wasn't involved in
the study.
Although the results in this study seem promising, many other recent
studies show that movement games don't create enough of a difference
to be considered better than recess time, and in many cases, kids
grow bored with the games after several weeks, Barnett noted.
"I would say that playing active electronic sports games might be
fun, but they are not a replacement for 'real' games and sport,"
Barnett said by email. "Parents are encouraged to provide time and
opportunity for their young child to play outside using varying
pieces of sports equipment."
Future studies should measure children's enjoyment during exergaming
versus other types of physical activity and whether more enjoyment
would encourage students to exercise more in later school years, Gao
said. It's also important to examine gender differences and the
effects of exergaming in multiple schools in different locations
with different socioeconomic backgrounds, he added.
"Preschool-aged children should be getting at least three hours of
physical activity every day, which you can think of as 15 minutes
for every hour that they're awake," said Amanda Staiano, director of
the Pennington Biomedical Research Center's Pediatric Obesity and
Health Behavior Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"Finding fun activity options for young children, especially girls,
can lay the foundation for kids to become active, competent and
confident throughout childhood and beyond," Staiano, who wasn't
involved in the current study, said by email.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2Tf3rn4 Journal of Sport and Health Science,
online December 6, 2018.
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
