Video games may boost heart health in kids

High-intensity active video games may improve cardiovascular health in children, according to a new study.

While other studies have assessed children’s energy expenditure and physical activity while playing active video games, this is the first study to measure the direct health benefits of high-intensity gaming on children’s arteries.

Researchers from The University of Western Australia with colleagues from Swansea University evaluated 15 children aged from 9 to 11 to determine whether high-intensity and low-intensity active video gaming -- also known as exergaming -- were good for cardiovascular function and health.

Dr Louise Naylor and Michael Rosenberg, from UWA’s School of Sport Science Exercise and Health compared children’s energy expenditure and heart rate when the children played both low-intensity and high-intensity active console video games and a session on a treadmill.

The researchers found that children playing a high-intensity video game used as much energy as if they were exercising moderately, and that high-intensity gaming improved children’s cardiovascular health and was a good form of activity for children to use to gain long-term and sustained health benefits.

Importantly, the children who participated in the study said they enjoyed playing both low and high-intensity games and were likely to continue playing them.

“Our research supports the growing notion that high-intensity activity is good for children and raises the potential for the inclusion of intensive exergames in the recommendations to improve health in children,” Naylor said.

The study was published in The Journal of Paediatrics.

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