The Nintendo Wii: S New Way To Exercise
The Nintendo Wii is the most popular video game system on the market today, and for a good reason. The innovative controller puts players right in the action and you can push, pull, swing and throw objects in the game by doing the corresponding motions with the controller. Besides being fun, this new way of playing has proved to be much better for your health than playing video games on systems with traditional controls. Because players are more active, burning calories and exercising has never been more fun thanks to the Wii. Nintendo did not intend for the Wii to be used for exercise, they just wanted to make video games accessible to the majority of the population by introducing true to life controls. They achieved this goal, but also got many people wondering just how useful the Wii would be to exercise with.
While no one has concretely measured how many calories are burned by playing various Wii games, there have been plenty of estimates and common sense tell us that swinging, jumping, and otherwise moving in the way the Wii controls require you too will burn more calories than sitting and using a traditional controller. Some estimates from a Liverpool University say that children burn 40% more calories while playing the Wii than when playing on other video game consoles. Children that participated in the study expended 156% more energy while playing the Wii than while resting; they only used 60% more energy while playing other systems with regular controllers. These findings prove what most people have figured out, playing the Wii is a little better for you than traditional consoles.
This doesn't mean that the Nintendo Wii is the next great piece of exercise equipment, but it does mean that playing games on the Wii that involve movement like Wii Sports, Wii Play, and WarioWare: Smooth Moves, will burn more calories than playing a game using a regular controller. Some people have tried to implement their Wii into their exercise regime and many have claimed to have successfully lost weight just by playing the Wii for a certain amount of time each day. There are many blogs and web sites dedicated to achieving weight loss by playing the Wii and lots of people claim to have done just that. Some people use pedometers to log how many steps they take while playing and other have developed exercise routines that involve playing Wii Sports.
But just how realistic is the notion of loosing weight from playing the Wii? It's not going to give you the same results as a Stair Master, but if you play video games, playing them on the Wii will burn more calories than other video game systems. There is also the fun factor; people are more inclined to want to work out by playing the Wii than using some boring exercise equipment. You shouldn't buy the Wii for the sole purpose of exercise, but if while boxing or during a game of tennis you work up a sweat at least you know your getting some exercise too.
