Video games are largely in part to blame for many people's lack of interest in physical activity. Instead of playing outside, many adults(and even more so kids) would rather stay inside and play video games.

It takes less effort to play video games than it does to play outside.

But video games lack most of the important parts of outdoor play.

They lack:

Imagination

Creativity

Physical activity

Sunlight

And socializing (if you socialize in-game, this one may not count)

for now, we’ll be focusing mostly just on physical activity, but to learn more about the benefits of spending time in nature, you can read the top 3 benefits you’ll notice if you spend more time in nature.

Virtual reality headsets are getting better, and with new apps are coming out for virtual reality like that can help you get fit like beat saber, you can get fit playing games!

The Nintendo switch has a game called Ring Fit Adventure, which also brings you through activities that include resistance training and cardio. These two activity's combined make the ultimate pair, and just think, this is all in a Nintendo video game. It’s rating are great and it’s reportedly fun.

Even over ten years ago, things like the Nintendo WII were found in numerous studies to be able to burn enough calories to be considered moderate physical activity, especially WII sports boxing.

Needless to say, active forms of gaming are on the rise. You don’t necessarily need to play outside to get physical activity.

Found that 5–8 year old kids burned more calories on an X box 360 kinect, playing The Kinect Adventures River Rush than they did during unstructured play, according to three accelerometers. They had more hip movement than any kids who played outdoors.

So if video games don’t=lazy anymore, what does that mean? That means a whole heck of a lot.

It means hitting the weekly recommended amount of physical activity per week of 150–300 minutes per week can be done while doing an activity, that hopefully, you wont dread at all.

It literally means all the benefits of exercise can be achieved while gaming. Active gaming that is, not your average computer or x box.

You may bite back and say that there was a study that found gamers in E-sports burn 210 calories per hour when gaming on the computer. This slightly makes sense too. If you are in the top leagues, your nervous, in fight or flight mode all the time, and always moving your hands around the keyboard.

But this study doesn’t apply to the average, or even slightly above average gamer who holds the controller(or keyboard) and moves there thumbs around a little. You likely burn much, much less during gaming than the top level E-sports gamers do.

So use active gaming, not “gaming-gaming,” to get more exercise and reach those weekly minimums (if you need to).

So make the choice. Are you going to make the standard choice of buying a sedentary gaming device, or buy something that involves active gaming. Obviously you shouldn’t replace all your outdoor time with active gaming for just for activity. Nature just has far too many benefits to just be let go of. But replacing your regular gaming sessions with more active forms of gaming like virtual reality, ring fit adventure, or even the Nintendo Wii can have benefits that may help you sustain a healthy exercise routine.

Thanks for reading!

Source:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150612143655.htm

And more.

New Years Resolution To Get Fit? Active Gaming Is The Future Of Fitness was originally published in AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.