New 'Active' Video Games May Give Kids More Exercise

Newer-generation "active" video games give a slight boost to children's physical activity levels at home, according to a new study. Most video games are passive and no better than watching television in terms of getting youngsters to move and burn energy. Children in developed nations spend 38 to 90 minutes a day playing video games. But it wasn't known if active video games are any better. In this study published online July 1 in BMJ Open, Australian researchers looked at how removing passive games from the home or replacing them with active games affected the activity levels of 56 children, aged 10 to 12. For eight weeks, all video games were removed from the home. This was followed by eight weeks of being allowed to play passive video games and then eight weeks of being allowed to play active video games. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_138356.html