The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: January 24, 2010

Official News page 6


REAL LIFE NEWS: WII IS NO GOOD FOR FIGHTING FLAB

by Hazed

You may have made a new year's resolution to get fit. You may also have been the proud recipient of a WII games console for Christmas. You may, therefore, be thinking that you can combine the two by using Wii Fit to fight the flab.

Sadly, it turns out this doesn't do much good.

A study conducted by the University of Minnesota measured the impact of in-home Wii Fit use by eight North American families over a six-moth period. The results: 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 families also used the console for significantly shorter periods of time as the study neared its end.

The study, conducted by Associate Professor of Health and Exercise Science Scott Owen, was broken into two three-month sections: one with Wii Fit in the house and one without. The families used the console for an average of 22 minutes each day during the first six weeks but for less than four minutes per day by the end of the three-month period.

However, it's not all bad news - the kids in all of the eight households did display significant increases in aerobic fitness after three months with Wii Fit. It's the adults that saw no benefit.

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