Active Video Games Don't Make Kids Exercise More 304
redletterdave writes "Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, designed every kid's dream study: they passed out Wii consoles to 78 kids who didn't already have one, and gave half the kids their choice of active game — such as Wii Sports or Dance Dance Revolution-Hottest Party 3 — and the other half their choice of inactive game, such as Disney Sing-It Pop Hits or Super Mario Galaxy. The research team tracked the youngsters for 13 weeks, testing their physical activity levels with a motion-measuring accelerometer. Participants wore the devices on a belt during four different week-long periods throughout the study, which allowed the research team to determine when they were sedentary or lightly exercising and when they were engaged in moderate-to-vigorous exercise. Accelerometer logs showed that throughout the study period, kids with the active games didn't get any more exercise than those given inactive video games. There was also no difference in minutes spent doing light physical activity or being sedentary during any week the researchers monitored."
Re:Same as school exercise (Score:5, Informative)
As a parent of young children in a single-income household, honestly I see the next class division between those who can afford to feed their kids healthy foods and those who can't. I can see a difference in my kids' ambition and attention levels when we eat balanced, home cooked meals with vegetables and whole grains versus when they've had three days of "Pizza Night", "Cereal Night" and "Out to Eat Night".
It's scary what a good diet can do for kids, and it's even scarier that the diet is out of reach for a majority of people in America.
Re:Same as school exercise (Score:4, Informative)
Bullshit. People who can't feed their family well for less than the price of a pizza ($10-$20) are full of it.
Veggies are cheap, often under $1/lb.
Rice is less than $0.25/lb
Chicken Breasts can often be found for under $2.00/lb
The above is the core of a great meal that costs less than $6, will feed 4 people, and can be made in 35 minutes with only around 15 minutes of kitchen time.
(2lbs of chicken, 1 dry cup of rice, and 1lb of veggies)
And instead of spending $3-$4 on a loaf of bread, bake your own loaf of light wheat bread for around $0.25. With a bread machine, the work is trivial and the bread is better than store bought.
-J
Re:kinect is a lot better (Score:2, Informative)
> Both systems have their Pros and Cons.
True. But the Pros for the Kinect that the grandparent poster was talking about were in reference only to how much physical activity is involved.
The Cons for the Kinect that you mentioned were all in regards to its various possible technical deficiencies.
So...nice non sequitur, I guess?
Re:Same as school exercise (Score:5, Informative)
Frozen vegetables can be more nutrient rich than fresh, especially if the fresh vegetables were flown in from another country or stored in a warehouse before making it to the supermarket.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2902223.stm [bbc.co.uk]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_vegetables [wikipedia.org]
http://www.livestrong.com/article/71064-fresh-versus-frozen-produce-which-healthier/ [livestrong.com]
Re:Same as school exercise (Score:4, Informative)
Thin sliced meat (beef or pork), onion, green pepper, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, sweet mirin, and a bit of sake, serve over white rice with a fried egg on top and you're all set. It's tasty as hell, and very filling.
Re:Same as school exercise (Score:5, Informative)
It used to be considered a bad thing to have children outside of a stable two parent household. But nowadays we are much more enlightened and know that holding such opinions is horribly self-righteous and narrow-minded.