Scott Owens, a researcher out in Mississippi decided to see what Wii Fit would do to family fitness so he loaned out 8 Wii Fits to 8 different families and was looking to see if it would help those families get more fit.
The study had two parts. 3 months where he studied the families' fitness levels before the introduction of the Wii Fit and 3 months post introduction. In so doing he used accelerometers, body composition analyses, aerobic capacity, and balance
What did he find?
In kids, while aerobic fitness did increase during the 3 months of Wii Fit, there were no changes to any other parameter.
More importantly, while initially a big hit in the homes, by the end of the 3 months the average family was only spending 4 minutes a day on the Wii Fit.
4 minutes a day sure ain't going to do much.
My advice? Buy a Wii for fun, go outside for fitness.
[Via ScienceDaily.com as the study has yet to be published]
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Bad news for Wii Fit curing childhood obesity.
