"Wii"view: Health Benefits of Playing Wii

A Google search for the term “Wii breaks TV” yields over two million results, including numerous videos of Wii controllers flying into large, expensive plasma TV screens. The Wii, a video game system released by Nintendo in the fall of 2006, became the first gaming console to ever reach the ten million mark in a single year. Its popularity is primarily due to cutting-edge technologies such as infrared output and motion sensors that enable gamers to manipulate Wii characters with actual physical movements. Many Wii enthusiasts claim that this breakthrough in technology, combined with the game Wii Sport or the newly released Wii Fit, allows gamers to become physically “fit” in the comforts of their own homes. Is the Wii truly a viable substitute for engaging in actual athletic activities? Does playing tennis on Wii have the same health benefits as playing tennis on an actual tennis court? More crucially, do the potential health benefits of playing Wii justify taking the risk of getting a gigantic, irreparable hole in one's new 52’’ plasma television? Please join me as I attempt to objectively answer these questions by consulting several research studies on this topic.

A study by a team of exercise scientists at the University of Wisconsin aimed to test the potential health benefits of playing Wii Sports, a game that simulates five different sports (bowling, tennis, boxing, baseball, and golf). Sixteen volunteers-eight men, eight women-were taught to play all five sports on the Wii and instructed to “simulate the body movements used in each actual sport” as opposed to using minimal body movements, which is a technique that Wii gamers often employ. During actual testing, participants played all five sports in random order while researchers recorded their heart rate and oxygen consumption at one-minute intervals. Primary results revealed that participants increased their oxygen consumption, which corresponds to the amount of calories burned, at least two to three times above their normal resting values. In order to compare the average calorie burn of playing Wii Sports to that of participating in actual sports, researchers referenced values described in McArdle, Katch and Katch’s Exercise Physiology, a standard text for caloric expenditure information (see below for comparison).

Tennis:
The real sport: 8.1 calories per minute Wii Sports: 5.3 calories per minute

Boxing:
The real sport: 10.2 calories per minute Wii Sports: 7.2 calories per minute

Golf:
The real sport: 3.9 calories per minute Wii Sports: 3.1 calories per minute

Bowling:
The real sport: 7.2 calories per minute Wii Sports: 3.5 calories per minute

Baseball:
The real sport: 7.3 calories per minute Wii Sports: 4.5 calories per minute

Analysis of results from the above study, which have been replicated in a similar study with children participants, shows that Wii Sports does not burn as many calories as playing actual sports. However, it offers more health benefits than playing more traditional hand-held video games and serves as an excellent alternative for those who do not have access to exercise facilities or those who live in environments where outdoor exercise is severely restricted by adverse weather conditions. Furthermore, the competitive nature of Wii Sports may motivate players to exercise more often and to exert more energy in pursuit of victory. For instance, playing 30 minutes of Wii Boxing burns 216 calories, which is 51 calories more than 30 minutes of brisk walking. In fact, Wii Sports’ potential weight-loss benefit is so widely accepted that it has been discussed as a feasible solution to the growing problem of child obesity. According to a MSNBC news article, the number of overweight children worldwide will increase significantly by the end of the decade. The article also predicted that nearly half of the children in North and South America will be overweight by 2010. Fortunately, encouraging findings from a report published by the Mayo Clinic suggests that children burn three times as many calories playing “active” video games rather than sedentary video games. Therefore, the Wii’s unprecedented interactivity with gamers may help decrease rates of childhood obesity and prevent obesity-induced heart disease and stroke from overwhelming the public health care system of the near future.

On further investigation, the Wii may play a significantly greater role in health-related issues than its creators originally intended. In addition to its potential to alleviate obesity problems, games such as Wii Fit may help improve balance of older people. Dr. Alison Stewart, the head of a study conducted by the University of Aberdeen, Scotland and the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS), expressed her concern that “'falls are the most common cause of accidental injury in older people and the most common cause of accidental deaths in 75-year-olds and over”. Since current medical fitness devices that improve balance are quite expensive and unavailable outside of the clinical setting, only a small percentage of the elderly population has access to this means of improving balance. The Wii’s comparably low cost, wide availability and high entertainment value could provide a larger percentage of the elderly population with the opportunity and motivation to improve balance and therefore decrease their risk of falling. Furthermore, compliance rates with rehabilitation programs in clinical settings may increase if therapists utilize the competitive and entertaining nature of the Wii to motivate their patients. For example, a 86-year-old Wii gamer told CNN that “[he[ always loved sports, particularly football […], but [he] had a stroke six months ago and [is] now in a wheelchair. Since the Wii [he] really feel movement in [his] right arm has improved.”

Researchers all over the world are conducting additional studies on the health benefits of Wii Sports and Wii Fit. For example, researchers in Australia believe that the Wii could offer Parkinson’s patients a safe and enjoyable way to boost their activity levels without leaving their home, or even their chair. In addition, the Wii is actually being implemented in various areas of health care. Occupational therapists are trying to use Wii Fit as a way to improve timing, coordination, and balance for sufferers of Parkinson’s disease. Rehabilitation therapists have created a therapy called “Wiihabilitation”(see left) to work on range of motion, coordination, strengthening, and stretching. Whereas Wii Sport focuses on cardio and weight loss, Wii Fit focuses on improving muscle tone and balance. Both games are valuable resources that could literally change the lives of individuals who previously lacked motivation or suitable means to exercise.

It is amazing that a video game system could offer entertainment and health benefits to gamers, solutions to health-related problems such as high obesity rates, and improvements to current methods of rehabilitation. However, one must also consider the negative health effects of playing Wii as well as health benefits that are exclusive to participation in authentic sports. From a cardiovascular health standpoint, Wii boxing is the only sport tested that would be considered intense enough to maintain or improve cardio respiratory endurance as defined by the American College of Sports Medicine. In other words, exercising with the Wii does not provide long-lasting health benefits such as cardiovascular endurance, which protect against conditions such as diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis, and certain types of cancer. Another health concern is that long hours of playing video games such as Wii Sports may result in vision problems.

Playing Wii Sports or Wii Fit (with full body movements) certainly offers more health benefits than playing sedentary video games, but participating in authentic sports is most conducive to maximizing physical fitness. Playing Wii seems to be a viable alternative to, but not a complete replacement for playing authentic sports. Nevertheless, the Wii makes exercising possible for elderly people or patients with limited mobility and accessibility to exercising facilities. The entertainment value of the Wii is a feature that distinguishes “Wiihabilitation” from more traditional physical rehabilitation programs, which are prone to low compliance rates resulting from lack of motivation. The creators of Wii definitely deserve recognition for creating an entertaining video game system that has so much potential for revolutionizing rehabilitation treatments and tackling current health-related issues such as rising obesity rates. As to the question of whether the potential health benefits of playing Wii justify taking the risk of getting a gigantic, irreparable hole in one's new 52’’ plasma television, I will leave it up to my visitors to decide.