Thanks to a brilliant Japanese idea, active video games now allow lazy-or money-conscious-college students to revel in the same mindless distractions from the intellectual world that traditional video games did while burning the weekend's excess calories.
Dance Dance Revolution, the brainchild of the Japanese company Konami that claims to have \an eye to enhancing entertainment and health,"" has become the most popular of this new influx of active video games-and the UW-Madison campus is no exception to this rising popularity.
Perhaps DDR is more appealing than a trip to the SERF. And when our muddled minds demand the occasional study break, a treadmill is hardly more appealing than a brainless escape into 20 minutes of Madden.
""During winter break I'd play all day,"" UW-Madison freshman Shaan Sudhakaran said. ""At 3 a.m. we'd all come over to my house and play for like six hours straight. If I wouldn't have been doing this, I guarantee I would have gained weight this winter.""
Whether or not ""lazy"" habits deserve the benefit of the doubt, the fact remains: college students eat more and exercise less-the increase in American obesity is proof. In the last three decades, obesity rates have risen with such alarming speed that the problem has been dubbed an ""epidemic"" soon to top tobacco as the leading threat to American health.
With one of the major causes of this epidemic determined to be excessive inactivity, it should come as no surprise that the recent introduction and popularity of these games has gotten the medical community and college students alike buzzing.
For the college student lacking the time, money or desire to hit the gym, DDR and its successors could be a very important part of combating the growing waistlines and surplus of other health consequences resulting from inactivity.
""If I have the choice I like being outside,"" Sudhakaran said, ""but if you're stuck in your dorm room it's perfect. You don't have to go outside, it doesn't take up much space and it's good cardio.""
The game allows players to choose a workout mode that tallies calories burned. Each song lasts about 2 to 3 minutes and burns about 25 calories.
""[The games] help decrease sedentary activity and time they would be spending just watching TV or playing other video games,"" UW-Madison Assistant Professor of Family Medicine Alexandra Adams said.
Medically speaking, the earlier college students can start making healthier choices, the better, as they are that much more likely to continue.
""[Obesity] is all about lifestyle choices, and learned behavior,"" Research Assistant at the American Medical Association and UW-Madison graduate Christian Krautkramer said. ""They [learn to] think they don't have time to learn about nutrition.""
While some of the buzz around these new games details individuals losing over 90 pounds, and doctors ""prescribing"" them to young overweight patients, any concrete research regarding their actual benefits are still in preliminary stages.
Both Adams and Krautkramer said they have yet to meet a doctor who is actually using the game as a way of treating patients, but Adams conceded that, ""anything that gets kids interested in moving-and actually gets them moving, is a good thing.""
