Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/12/17/wii_fit_research/
Research suggests Wii Fit is no flab fighter
Not for adults, at least
Posted in Personal Tech, 17th December 2009 10:54 GMT
Adults should think twice before considering Wii Fit as a way of shifting those post-Christmas pounds, a University of Minnesota study has hinted.
After measuring the impact of in-home Wii Fit use by eight North American families over a six-month period, researchers concluded that the game failed to produce any “significant changes in daily physical activity, muscular fitness, flexibility, balance or body composition” for the families as a whole.
The study, conducted by Scott Owens, an Associate Professor of Health and Exercise Science at the university, also found that the families used the console for significantly shorter periods of time as the study neared its end.
Owens’ study was broken into two three-month sections: one with Wii Fit in the house and one without. The families used Wii Fit for an average of 22 minutes each day during the first six weeks of it entering their homes, but for less than four minutes per day by the end of the three-month period.
Owens concluded that “modest amounts of daily Wii Fit use may have provided insufficient stimulus for fitness changes”.
But the results weren’t all bad for Nintendo’s multi-million unit selling console.
Kids in each of the eight households studied did display significant increases in aerobic fitness after three months with Wii Fit, Owens said. ®