Comparison of Physiological and Metabolic Responses to Playing Nintendo Wii Sports and Brisk Treadmill Walking

Regular moderate-intensity exercise (e.g. brisk walking) provides health benefits. In the present study, we compared the physiological and metabolic responses of playing the Nintendo Wii Sports tennis, baseball and boxing with self-paced brisk treadmill walking. Ten young-adults (21±1 years; 73.9±12.0 kg; 1.76±0.06 m) played each sport for 10 min with a 5 min rest interval or, in a separate session, walked briskly (6.1±0.6 km·h-1) with an equivalent time order wearing the Cosmed K4b2 metabolic system. In a bout of 10 min, the average values during Nintendo Wii boxing for physiological (i.e. minute ventilation, oxygen uptake and heart rate) and metabolic (i.e. energy expenditure, fat oxidation, carbohydrate oxidation and respiratory exchange ratio) responses were equal to brisk treadmill walking but lower for Nintendo Wii tennis and baseball (P<0.05). It was concluded that the physiological and metabolic responses of Nintendo Wii boxing would allow this game activity to be a viable part of a programme of structured exercise in young-adults to gain health benefits.