A research team led by University of Delaware Associate Professor Elizabeth Orsega-Smith looked into the calorie consumption of healthy, yet overweight senior citizens who played Wii Sports games.
The 24 participants in the study had a body mass index (BMI) ranging between 26 and 39 and were in the age range of 66 to 78. BMI in the range of 25-29.9 indicates a person is overweight, while a 30+ BMI is a sign of obesity. Using wrist-mounted accelerometers, the researchers measured “caloric expenditure” during 30-minute long Wii play sessions.
According to Medical News Today, when playing Wii Bowling by themselves, participants burned between 20-176 calories, while playing in teams resulted in 18-89 calories being burned. Baseball play sessions led to the expenditure of 22-144 calories and Wii Tennis led to 17-72 calories being burnt off.
Orsega-Smith noted, “Wii playing may be a vehicle for physical activity participation, especially for those older adults who do not have access to a fitness facility or who may have physical limitations to their mobility.”
Comments
Re: Study: Fat, Old People Can Burn Calories Using Wii
Of course the Wii can help. How many health news has it been mentioning that the Wii can help with excercise? I've seen many of those news, and this doesn't surprise me.
Re: Study: Fat, Old People Can Burn Calories Using Wii
Study: Fat, Old People Can Burn Calories By Getting Outside & Walking!
Yes the WII is great for allowing people to have some fun while burning some calories, but the constant implication that the WII is this miracle of fitness is absurd!
BMI is BS. Okay... not totally, but it is very poor means of determining if someone is overweight. Especially by itself. The most important thing when trying to lose weight: diet. The WII isn't going to do anything if you have a pile of donuts sitting next to you while you play tennis.
Re: Study: Fat, Old People Can Burn Calories Using Wii
No one thing should ever be treated as an end all be all solution. Physical activity is just as important as watching your intake.
Re: Study: Fat, Old People Can Burn Calories Using Wii
I dont know, but when I read this I thought you were talking about WII and not Wii. I should try not to fall asleep watching the History Channel.
~Weatherlight~
Re: Study: Fat, Old People Can Burn Calories Using Wii
Ya that calorie range they gave does sound about right for how much you might loose just walking for 30 minutes straight... granted though, the study was done on old and fat people you typically don't walk very fast which would limit how many calories they would burn; and i ain't no expert when it comes to figuring out how much weight fat and old people loose with a walk.
ofcourse, use a machine down at the gym and you could probably double or even triple that weight loss
Re: Study: Fat, Old People Can Burn Calories Using Wii
Well-said. BMI is junk science, as it treats all weight the same (it would classify a bodybuilder as "obese") and assumes human beings are two-dimensional.
Re: Study: Fat, Old People Can Burn Calories Using Wii
I can believe this. I know I played Wii Sports & after playing 25 min. on Tennis I could feel my heart pumping. My arms were starting to hurt - aka the muscles. But they should do the study on not just big, old people, but also young people too.
"It's better to be hated for who you are, then be loved for who you are not." - Montgomery Gentry