Are you a fatty with a mouthful of rotten choppers? Then you might be a video gamer. A pair of studies released recently name games as a cause of both poor dental health and childhood obesity.
The more important of the studies is from the World Health Organization. The WHO claims that a third of kids across the world are obese. The cause: A sedentary lifestyle. Apparently, only a quarter of boys and 15 percent of girls get enough exercise.
The WHO names video games as one reason kids aren't running around and riding their bikes enough. Instead, according to the report, kids are “spending three hours or more per day watching TV, playing computer games, or chatting with friends online”.
It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, either. “With regards to physical activity levels, we did not find much of a difference between poor and rich countries,” the report said . “Growing up in a poor country does not necessarily mean that kids get more physical activity.”
The second study comes from the University of Iowa. The research on teenagers between the ages of 12 and 16 years old indicated gamers are more than twice as likely to develop tooth decay as those with more active lifestyles. Obviously games themselves don't cause cavities, instead, blame the sugary snacks and lack of discipline--the kids who are least likely to have dental problems are kids with a more structured meal schedule.
The research doesn't really indicate this, but I'm going to make a logical leap here and posit that the kids who have the most cavities are the kids who have the least disciplined households in general, and that playing games a lot is an effect of lax parenting rather than a cause of tooth problems.
Kids who live in houses where no one cares when they eat or what they do with their time are (I think) more likely to scarf down a couple packs of Sour Patch Kids and Pizza Rolls and play Metal Gear Solid than kids whose parents are on top of schedules and discipline. If your mom insists you make it to soccer practice, you're likely not going to be as chunky, too. Also: If parents are lax enough to let their children play games for six hours a day, they are probably less concerned about tooth-brushing at bedtime.
The moral of the story: Games are fun, but brush your teeth and ride your bike once in a while too.
Source: MCVUK
Source: Wales Online
http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/703730/Microsoft-Announces-Xbox-Live-Arcade-Winners.html
My twitter feed is here. My email is here. Follow me on twitter and let me know if you hear any interesting news.
Comments are Closed
Comments
Displaying 21–40 of 46
11233
SpunkyMcNuggets
blame our food industry and poor parenting
CavalierB
Wanna solve childhood obesity? 4 Letters:
A.Y.S.O.
DONE.
ArZeal
While I understand what the studies were looking at and trying to say I don't think it is an accurate picture. Perhaps there is some truth to what the studies say, but instead of labeling gaming as a cause it could be labeled as a moderator, with "home life" as the cause of weight. So "home life" would be how the parents raise their children (diet, exercise, homework, work around the house, bed time, ect..) or "home life" could be socioeconomic status or whatever. Then gaming would be a moderator which would effect the relationship between weight and home life.
What I would like to see someone do (or maybe I will do it once I get along far enough in my studies) is to look at what happens when these kids no longer live at home. Do they continue like the did when at their parents home? Or, do they start up a new life style and gaming? Is gaming as strong a moderator in adults as it is in children and teens?
Tman88
So games are to blame for these things instead of people making the choice to sit on the couch all day long without any exercise as well as making the choice not to brush their teeth. Also I'd like to point out that I wasn't taking a jab at obese people but however it's not right to blame video games instead of someone's personal choices to not make themselves more healthy.
Lacking_Fractal
Parenting isn't difficult, people are just too damn lazy to put any effort into it nowadays.
CustosIntusSilentium
At this point, I'm not sure why we are even acknowledging reports such as this. Owned responsibility and self-moderation have long since been flushed down the porcelain thrown along with the truck-loads of Doritos and Mountain Dew the WHO believes gamers live off. Last I checked, parents still had the right to literally pull the plug on THEIR kids gaming habits should they become too ingrained in normal day activities. Just another Yuppie story; read, laugh, and move on people.
RockieOllie
I hate people that blame the issues of their children on video games. But i agree, it's good to go out ever so often so you don't become a noob when it comes to riding your bike.
Notafanboythatiknow
Very true Stephen; I could not have said it better. It is a shame that video games are a convenient scapegoat for so many problems.
power-o-pwn
Since when has the WHO been scientists? please tell me.
drh1975
Games seem to get blamed for everything. Some idiot shoots up his school/workplace, it's because of video games. People are packing on the pounds and not taking care of their teeth, blame games. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions or lack thereof. Next thing you know, the WHO are gonna blame wars, the bad economy, or the next Miley Cyrus album on videogames.
RandyMercer
The WHO has also stated "We don't want to address the elephant in the room, instead we'll just blame it on a popular Past-Time so that the parents of the community will like what we say and hate video games even more(those that hate it anyway), in closing we want to make a plea, game developers, it's your responsibility to take care of kids whom you've never seen before and teach them to brush their teeth and play ball outside. It's your responsibility."
So out of this I've learned that now it goes like this Parents conceive the child but the gaming industry takes care of him/her. Nice The WHO, nice. another thing, am I he only one who smells a lawsuit?(The WHO vs The WHO band)
TheUndeadOne137
Blame parents, not games, blame the disease called LAZY, not games....geez
permanent_nirvana
Scapegoating. Thats all this is. Plain and simple.
We cant blame the parents anymore because parenting is a lot harder today than it was 20 years ago. With sooo many things to worry about, parents just cant be blamed for anything anymore. So we get something like this.
Ohhh your child is fat? Its a result of sitting on their ass playing video games. Or its Ronald McDonald's fault.
Your child has bad teeth? That fault lies with video games and sugar.
Your child goes insane because you arent paying enough attention to them and shoots up his/her school because they were being picked on? That is certainly the result of playing too many video games. Or its Marilyn Manson's fault.
Honestly, when will it stop?
Symicide
I am Joe's Grinding Teeth.
UltraViolence74
straight to dvd for this one.
1drink2many
Hmmm..if there was a way to award achievemments and trophys for exercising. Wait, isnt that what motion controls is all about??
Wozman23
I don't believe this one bit. The WHO also said if you play a bunch of pinball, you will go blind.
At 26, I've played a lot videogames all my life, but only weigh 120 lbs and have only had 1 cavity. I must be some weird freak of nature.
topgamer101
More and more I always see lack of parenting to blame. I don't believe parents need to be nazi controlling, I have a few friends that literally can't have a social life the way their parents act.
Still there also needs to be SOME structure around the childs life.
I also find these studies rather funny, considering I can spend a SIGNIFICANT amount of time gaming per day and I'm not fat or have tooth decay. Course I also don't get a huge amount of exercise and only a have way decent health nut (diabetes and picky eater don't go well together sadly.)
Whatever. Studies can be easily skewed towards certain outcomes without people realizing it. When it comes to blaming video games, I'm sure there's a way to tie them to suicide, murder, and genocide if someone wanted to bad enough.
Chancegalaxy
I wish 'The Who' would go back to making awesome music and stop hating on fatties. The obesity rate in this country is appalling. I don't blame video games or televisions or Legos...it all comes down to bad parenting. People love a scapegoat they can point to and say "See look! It isn't my fault!". Teach your kids to find a healthy balance between physical play and sedentary play and stop trying to pass the @#%&ing buck.
tsglass
I do. Im 24 and in the best shape of my life. I weight less and look better than I did in high school. The point is that I played mroe video games during high school and definately played tons of video games in college. Playing games forces you to just sit there and do nothing. Then the hunger part comes in and before you know it kids around the world are sitting down in front of the tv doing nothing but eating unhealthy food for hours at a daily basis. Even today, with a completely different aspect of life I sometimes pick up the controller and play a game rather than tying the laces and go for a 20 minute run. Its just easier to lay around.
Some people have different habits, different diets, different active levels so playing video games is NOT the #1 reason for obesity but its just PART of the problem in most cases with kids and young adults.
Displaying 21–40 of 46
11233