A Systematic Review on the Intervention Using Exercise Gaming to reduce Childhood Obesity

ABSTRACT

@#The worsening trend of childhood obesity is a global public health issue. Digital technology evolution is a contributing factor towards physical inactivity and obesity among children. In order to overcome this growing problem, exercise games have been introduced in early eighties to ameliorate this obesogenic environment. Exercise games utilize innovative technologies that provide an interactive environment, requiring gestures and body movements to simulate on-screen gameplay. The objective of this review is to assess the effectiveness of exercise gaming intervention in managing childhood obesity. A systematic review was performed. Six articles examining exercise video games impact on weight management among children published between January 2013 and December 2017 in the English language were selected from a total of 54 articles identified through five major search engines. Majority of the researchwas conducted in developed countries particularly in the United States whereby some developing countries had started with small-scale researches in this area. The result indicated that there was a significant increase in physical activity level, reduction of BMI, reduced adipose tissue composition and a positive psychological impact after the intervention of exercise games. However, the impact of exercise games on physiological and metabolic parameters were inconclusive and requires further study. In conclusion, exercise games are the effective way to combat childhood obesity, along with other modules of lifestyle.