A video game in development will encourage children to strengthen their action-hero characters by logging miles walked, U.S. researchers say.
Cynthia Carter Ching, J. Bruce German and Sara Schaefer, of University of California, Davis, and Marta Van Loan of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, teamed with Play4Change, a non-profit led by Ariel Hauter that develops serious games for social causes.
"Gamers project their identities into game play in various ways already, but we are particularly interested in what might happen if the avatar in a game is tied directly to the gamer's body and his or her actions outside the game," Ching said in a statement.
The game is scheduled to be in use by health educators in select Sacramento schools next spring for 11- to 14-year-old students for the initial development and testing.
The students will wear activity-monitor devices that measure such things as steps walked, floors climbed and calories burned. These data, along with diet logs and health and nutrition information they receive prior to play, inform the choices youth make and their rate of progress in their journey through the game, Ching said.
For example, a student who records more physical activity on a given day may find that their avatar is faster and stronger the next time they log in to the game and as a result, the student can see short-term positive rewards for their healthy actions -- such as not eating a dessert or walking after school -- long before they lose weight or change sizes, Ching said.
source: upi.com
Showing posts with label Physical Activity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Physical Activity. Show all posts
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Moderate exercise linked to quicker conception: US study
Moderate exercise is tied to greater success among women trying to get pregnant, but those who work out vigorously take longer to conceive, an international study has found.
"This study is the first to find that the effect of physical activity on fertility varied by body mass index," said lead author Lauren Wise, a reproductive epidemiologist at Boston University. Body mass index (BMI) is a ratio of height to weight.
Researchers in the United States and Denmark followed more than 3,500 Danish women aged 18 to 40 who were trying to conceive over the course of a year for the study, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
All reported being in a stable relationship with a male partner and were not receiving any fertility treatments.
Participants estimated the number of hours per week they had spent exercising in the past year, as well as the intensity of their workouts. Over the course of the study, nearly 70 percent of all women became pregnant.
The researchers found that moderate exercise, such as walking, cycling or gardening, was associated with getting pregnant more quickly for all women, regardless of weight.
Women who spent more than five hours per week doing moderate exercise were 18 percent more likely to become pregnant during any given menstrual cycle than women who performed moderate exercise for less than an hour each week.
However, normal-weight and very lean women who reported high levels of vigorous exercise, such as running or aerobics, took longer to get pregnant. Those who exercised vigorously for more than five hours each week had a 32 percent lower chance of becoming pregnant during a given cycle than women who did not exercise vigorously at all.
There was no association between vigorous exercise and the time it took overweight or obese women—those with a BMI of 25 or greater—to become pregnant.
While the study was large and well designed, there were some weaknesses, said Bonnie Dattel, an obstetrician at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, in an email.
Because the amount and intensity of exercise was self-reported, participants could have underestimated or overestimated their activity levels, she said.
The results also don't mean exercise was responsible. Women who took longer to conceive could also have modified their exercise patterns, the researchers noted, making the relationship the opposite of what it appeared.
In general, overweight and obese women have higher rates of fertility issues and a variety of pregnancy complications, said Richard Grazi, a reproductive specialist at Genesis Fertility in Brooklyn, New York, who was not part of the study.
"Fat is metabolically active—it makes estrogens," he said.
That extra estrogen can suppress other hormones responsible for ovulation, which can lead to irregular menstrual cycles or even a lack of menstruation.
On the other hand, it's not clear why lean women who exercise vigorously may take longer to become pregnant.
Having too little body fat may be a factor for some women, and it's known that competitive female athletes and very underweight women sometimes experience menstrual irregularities.
Exercise may also affect the fertilized egg's ability to implant in the uterus. One previous study of women undergoing in vitro fertilization found a higher risk of implantation failure among women who did a lot of running or cycling.
"I recommend exercise to all my patients, and a moderate level is always best for conception and pregnancy," said Wise. –Reuters
source: gmanetwork.com
"This study is the first to find that the effect of physical activity on fertility varied by body mass index," said lead author Lauren Wise, a reproductive epidemiologist at Boston University. Body mass index (BMI) is a ratio of height to weight.
Researchers in the United States and Denmark followed more than 3,500 Danish women aged 18 to 40 who were trying to conceive over the course of a year for the study, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
All reported being in a stable relationship with a male partner and were not receiving any fertility treatments.
Participants estimated the number of hours per week they had spent exercising in the past year, as well as the intensity of their workouts. Over the course of the study, nearly 70 percent of all women became pregnant.
The researchers found that moderate exercise, such as walking, cycling or gardening, was associated with getting pregnant more quickly for all women, regardless of weight.
Women who spent more than five hours per week doing moderate exercise were 18 percent more likely to become pregnant during any given menstrual cycle than women who performed moderate exercise for less than an hour each week.
However, normal-weight and very lean women who reported high levels of vigorous exercise, such as running or aerobics, took longer to get pregnant. Those who exercised vigorously for more than five hours each week had a 32 percent lower chance of becoming pregnant during a given cycle than women who did not exercise vigorously at all.
There was no association between vigorous exercise and the time it took overweight or obese women—those with a BMI of 25 or greater—to become pregnant.
While the study was large and well designed, there were some weaknesses, said Bonnie Dattel, an obstetrician at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, in an email.
Because the amount and intensity of exercise was self-reported, participants could have underestimated or overestimated their activity levels, she said.
The results also don't mean exercise was responsible. Women who took longer to conceive could also have modified their exercise patterns, the researchers noted, making the relationship the opposite of what it appeared.
In general, overweight and obese women have higher rates of fertility issues and a variety of pregnancy complications, said Richard Grazi, a reproductive specialist at Genesis Fertility in Brooklyn, New York, who was not part of the study.
"Fat is metabolically active—it makes estrogens," he said.
That extra estrogen can suppress other hormones responsible for ovulation, which can lead to irregular menstrual cycles or even a lack of menstruation.
On the other hand, it's not clear why lean women who exercise vigorously may take longer to become pregnant.
Having too little body fat may be a factor for some women, and it's known that competitive female athletes and very underweight women sometimes experience menstrual irregularities.
Exercise may also affect the fertilized egg's ability to implant in the uterus. One previous study of women undergoing in vitro fertilization found a higher risk of implantation failure among women who did a lot of running or cycling.
"I recommend exercise to all my patients, and a moderate level is always best for conception and pregnancy," said Wise. –Reuters
source: gmanetwork.com
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