Dance Dance Revolution and childhood obesity

Last week I reported on an article which suggested that the new video console — the Nintendo Wii — may help address the childhood obesity problem (not!)

Now a researcher in the UK has just published a study which looks at the health impact of an older video game — Dance Dance Revolution (DDR).

DDR is one the available games for the Sony Playstation. It consists of a dance pad with pressure sensors which hooks up to the video-game console and TV. The player stands on the pad and steps on the different sensors according to the instructions displayed and in rhythm with the game’s music.

My son used to play this game and seemed to be huffing and puffing pretty good after several games. I tried it but never got good enough to get much of a work out.

Anyway, what Dr. Liverpool (the primary author of this UK study) learned is that playing the game did increase kid’s heart rate but not their breathing intensity (I guess my son was a more aggressive dancer than the kids in the study).

Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that a child would need to play the game for more than an hour every day for it have any impact on kid’s weight.

Here’s the reality — this research on video games as the solution to childhood obesity is barking up the wrong tree. The right tree is kids learning how to eat.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of The Straight Scoop About Childhood Obesity