Grandma calls bull on 2012 interactive gaming study

According to CBS News, a 2012 study has shown playing interactive video games (Like on Wii and Kinect) is no better health-wise, than playing regular video games. This grandma isn't so sure about that.

What about the complete couch potatoes? Isn't a little movement better than none at all? At least it would be a step in the right direction. What about the variance in physical activity levels? Surely some children put a bit more into game play than others.

The results of the study are hard to believe.

Playing a half hour to an hour of active video games per day has no measurable effect on kids health? These games leave a lot of adults huffing and puffing. Still, the researchers appear to have taken measurements to insure accuracy. The study involved 78 kids, half of whom were given active games to play for a 12 week period. They wore devices to monitor physical activity. At the end of the study, researchers found no differences between the kids who used the active games and the kids who didn't.

The missing elements:

Do you see a problem with this research? There's no mention of measuring kids activity levels before the research began. They were compared with the other kids, not with themselves.

If a child went from being a complete couch potato to using interactive games daily, there was certainly some health benefit. Unfortunately, there's no mention of taking base levels prior to the research. Do interactive games improve the health of inactive kids? We have no way of knowing unless researchers include prior health statistics.

Plus, 12 weeks (3 months) is a pretty short time period, isn't it? How about a year later or in the future, once they've been doing it for years? Surely, being more physically active would have long term benefits, no matter the activity. And of course, diet and exercise are team players. No mention was made of their eating habits. Surely that would make a difference. Or at the very least, they could have chosen kids with the same eating habits.

There were just too many factors left out of the study here. I'm no scientist, but I still say that some physical activity has to be better than none, which is what they get playing regular video games. I'm glad my grand-kids play physically interactive electronic games along with conventional ones. Study or no study, Grandma knows it's better for them.

I think it's time for a new study!