OXFORD, Miss., Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The Nintendo Wii Fit may be lots of fun but a University of Mississippi study indicates it may have little effect on family fitness.
Scott Owens of the University of Mississippi says the six-month study followed eight families in the Oxford, Miss., area who were loaned a Nintendo Wii Fit to use for three months. Each family's physical activity was charted during three months without a Nintendo Wii Fit in the home and three months with the game system in the home.
Software on the game consoles used individual profiles to track how much each family member used the games and how much movement was involved in that use. Each family was evaluated through a number of different fitness measurements.
Children did display significant increases in aerobic fitness after three months with the Wii Fit. However, three months of home Wii Fit use produced no significant changes in daily physical activity, muscular fitness, flexibility, balance or body composition for families as a whole -- perhaps, because daily Wii Fit use per household declined by 82 percent, from 22 minute per day during the first six weeks to four minutes per day during the second six weeks, Owens says.
The findings have been submitted for publication.
