Since when did video games become a vehicle for fitness, other than overdeveloped thumbs and fingers? Whoa, step back if you haven’t heard of Wii Fit. This brainchild from Nintendo bypasses the normal extremely low level of movement associated with video games and adds a level of physicality that causes researchers like Kansas State University’s David Dzewaltowski to say, “I think there is a great potential to develop ways to promote physical activity through technology.”

Seems we’ve come full circle. In the beginning, the whole point of technology was to make life easier. Now it’s gotten so easy that we have an epidemic of obesity in children brought on by easy access to nutritionally deficit food and entertainment that involves a television screen and body indention in the couch rather than real trees and risk of broken limbs.

Dzewaltowski believes that it is innate in the nature of children to want to move, so emerging game technologies that incorporate movement will be popular to youngsters also.

For example, Wii Fit involves yoga, strength training, balance, and aerobics. You can step onto the balance board and mimic snowboarding down a mountain. These games are interactive and require players to physically move, which is better than others’ that encourage no more activity than reaching slightly to the left to grab another Twinkie or go elbow deep into the Cheetos bag.

Within the inherent limitations, Wii Fit also actually encourages a healthy lifestyle for some people by calculating their Body Mass Index when you step aboard. Though it doesn’t work as well for still-growing children, it can be a good screening tool for adults – yes, it will tell you if you’re overweight or obese when you step on board, so get ready for that and try to refrain from throwing the infernal device out the window.

It’s not Nintendo’s fault you can’t bypass the ice cream aisle at the grocery store. The contents herein are based on an article posted at ScienceDaily.com, which can be read in its entirety by clicking here.

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