Summarized by Adriana Diaz EME Fall 2008 Energy Expenditure During Physically Interactive Video Game Playing in Male College Students With Different Playing Experience

Introduction  College students are not engaging in the recommended amount of physical activity to say in shape  Playing such games as DDR is a way to exercise while having fun  The main purpose of this article is to see if experienced and inexperienced players can lose the same amount of calories playing DDR

Information (Continued)  Engaging in physical activity will help lower the risk of getting many diseases, and researchers are trying to eliminate obesity in young adults  Students should be doing about 30 minutes of moderate exercise to raise the heart rate

Purpose of study  To determine if playing DDR is a correct way of replacing physical activity such as walking outside  To determine if experienced players burn more calories than inexperienced players  For students to get more physical activity to minimize obesity and diseases

Methods  Nineteen male students volunteered  12 of the males were experienced (level 4) and 7 were not experienced (level 1-2)  Males had to be non smokers and free from medical conditions  Each male had to complete 2 laboratory consisting of a treadmill test and a session of DDR

Methods (Continued)  Before starting their sessions, they had to rest for 15 minutes  The researchers recorded resting oxygen consumption (VO2), respiratory exchange rate (RER), and heart rate (HR)  Each participant was asked to refrain from eating 2 hours before and to avoid heavy exercise 24 hours before and no 48 hours before

Methods (Continued)  During their session they wore shorts, t- shirts, and athletic shoes to avoid changes in metabolic responses  They collected their still heart rate, walking at a self pace for 5 minutes, then increasing it every 2 minutes until they were jogging  Then their heart rate the 30 minutes they were playing DDR  They collected how long it took each one to reach the 150 kcal loss

Findings  Due to this study the researchers were able to determine an estimate for the exercise intensity for experienced and for inexperienced participants  Tell the differences between the groups by doing repeated measures of the data  The experienced players were younger than the inexperienced players, but similar height, etc.

Findings (Continued)  No significant differences were seen in the metabolic rates in every male  The experienced players had a higher average on all cardiovascular variables  The experienced players were able to achieve the 150 kcal where as the inexperienced were not able under the 150 kcal

Discussion of Findings  Energy expenditureduring 30 minutes of upper body exercise there is less physically interactive video gaming going on then generated with the treadmill walking  Energy expenditure during 30 minutes of upper body exercise there is less physically interactive video gaming going on then generated with the treadmill walking  Although that occurred all the participants enjoying playing DDR than the treadmill  Playing at higher levels of DDR will allows you to reach the 150 kcal needed daily

Discussion of findings (Continued)  Body weight did not affect how quickly the calories were lost  Experienced players are able to lose more calories because they use their body more than the inexperienced  The researchers also believed that the experienced may have felt more relaxed playing then inexperienced

Discussion of Findings (Continued)   The researches realized that increased concentration may increase playing time that would help increase energy expenditure

Limitation of the Study  This test is limited because it was only given to male college students  All the students attended the same college, they were not collected from different ones  The researchers used the cross-sectional approach to determine the influence that playing experience would have on energy expenditure during physically interactive video games

Limitations of the Study (Continued)  The researchers only used one game to determine if 150 kcal’s could be lost, and the game was focused on lower body movement

Suggestion for Future Research  They should get a larger group of people, and include woman and children  The researchers should also include other games that include physical activity  They should promote playing DDR so more people play and reach the amount of kcal's they should be losing everyday

Suggestion for Future Research (Continued)  In future studies they should also include body composition rather than BMI to see if you lose body fat as well

Conclusions  Participants that had more experience playing DDR did better than the people who did not have experience  The experienced players were able to reach the recommended loss of kcal’s unlike the inexperienced  DDR may be a way that many people will begin exercising rather than going for a walk

Conclusions (Continued)  Playing games like DDR may reduce diseases that are caused by obesity or other risks  Playing DDR is more enjoyable for many people and may motivate them to become more active

Citation   Katie Sell, PhD; Tia Lillie, PhD; Julie Taylor, PhD Energy Expenditure During Physically Interactive Video Game Playing in Male College Students With Different Playing Experience. Journal of American College Health, Vol. 56, No. 5,

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