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Video Games and Obesity
Many people claim that the growing number of video games contributes to the growing number of obese children and adults in today’s society. This negatively affects the community in many ways. Obesity can lead to a ton of health problems, including high blood pressure, stroke, and a general lack of energy. Obese people need more energy to do simple tasks. Many video games don’t require the player to use a large amount of energy.
People who are overweight and get little exercise are more likely to have high blood pressure. High blood pressure can easily lead to a heart attack or stroke. If someone plays video games to much and doesn’t get enough exercise, obesity is a very possible, potentially deadly, consequence. Video games are better played in moderation. Obese people need more energy to do simple tasks like getting up and moving around. Because they weigh so much, more of their energy is used up in less time. An easy remedy to obesity is to eat healthy and exercise, but excessive video game usage is not a good idea. The growing obesity problem is not entirely the fault of video games. Obesity due to video games can easily be prevented by playing them in moderation and getting good exercise. Some video game companies have noticed the growing obesity problem and created games to help remedy the problem. For example, Wii Fit, Wii Fit Plus, and the Active Life series put exercise into the game. While obesity is a growing problem in society, it is not all the fault of video games. All you have to do is eat a healthy diet and get good exercise and you will be fine. So play video games in moderation. Please give any thoughts on this article. I dont blacklist people but please no advertising on this thread, and obey all site rules. |
The biggest problem with this is what about the people who are 'obese' according to todays standards of weight, but are perfectly healthy individuals?
One of my moms best friends has a beautiful figure, she looks properly proportioned, but according to her weight and society's huge obsession with it, she is considered 'obese'. She gets up every morning at 6 am for a jog around her neighborhood and local park. She eats right, according to Canada's Food Guide. She doesn't eat sweets or junk food. She's had a gym membership for the last 24 years (she's in her mid 30's). She's probably the happiest, prettiest and most energetic woman I know, and the only time she ever played a video game, was when her niece wanted her to play a round of Mario Kart on the N64, so she decided to humor her. But if you never knew her weight, you would never guess that she had such an ugly title tacked onto her life. I hate it when people assume that it's video games making people obese. Sometimes it's just a medical condition, sometimes there's an outside factor. People need to learn that it doesn't matter and everyone needs to live their lives how they see fit, as long as it does not harm others. |
This reminds me of the studies that say violent video games make kids violent. I've always been more of the opinion that violent kids play violent video games.
Similarly, if someone's fat because they're lazy (there are other reasons people get fat, but laziness is the only one applicable here, I think), video games won't make them sit around more. Me as an example: I don't go to my living room and think "Hmmm, Halo or a run? Halo!" If you're the type of person who don't move 'nuff, without video games you'll still sit around, you'll just do something else. |
my thoughts exactly (or realy close) Hermes. By the way North America.
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Dude, stop replying to my signature as if it's part of my post.
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Quote:
Anyways, related to the topic, while there may be a correlation between weight and average time playing video games, it's just that - a correlation. There's also a correlation between people who eat large amounts of carrots and people with freckles. See what I mean? There's many things factoring in when it comes to America's obesity problem. More and more people are working longer shifts, and getting less money. This means you have to buy cheap food. Cheap food is generally unhealthy, and loaded with salt. Since they have to budget their time and money, it also leaves less time to exercise. People go to McDonald's for a quick meal. It's cheap. I think a major problem is the fact that people no longer know how to manage their meals. They eat out of boredom and depression. If people only ate when they got hungry, obesity would not be a problem. I eat one large meal a day, which is lunch, and a small meal after that (usually a slice of some sort of meat, a fruit or vegetable, and a cup of rice). I may have a snack sometime between when I wake up and lunch, but other than that, I cannot physically eat any more because I got myself on this schedule and I stuck to it. I don't require any more food than this. I am 85lbs -- I have always been a little on the slender side, and I'm 5'3", and not muscular. If more people did what I learned to do, people's self esteem would go through the roof. When they see something they like about themselves, they want to keep it. They will continue to work out and eat only what they need. This might inspire more people to get fit. Basically, what I'm saying is, America needs motivation and a little bit of knowledge about their bodies to get on the right track -- not less video games. |
Cue, I said it like that because I've politely explained it to him on two separate occasions and seen other people explain it to him on two other separate occasions. =| Hence the 'stop.'
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I Answered this one before seing the other replies.
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This is kinda like the whole, a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't always a square.
Yes, some people that play that play video games are obese. It may that the people who are obese because they are lazy choose to play video games as a past time. Does this mean that all people who play video games are obese? No. Does it mean that all people who play video games run a higher risk of becoming obese? Absolutely not. The same thing could be correlated about people who spend long amounts of time on the internet, but you don't see people attacking the internet because it's more socially acceptable to spend your whole day on Facebook than it is on your couch playing Final Fantasy. >.< Obesity is caused by the food we eat and the lack of exercise we choose to do. It has nothing to do with what pastimes people choose to do while they're not exercising. By the way, for the sake of example, I spend my evening playing video into the wee hours of the morning. I weigh 125 lbs. I may not be physically fit, but I'm not obese. |
This sort of contradicts the stories about people literally starving or fainting from dehydration because they play videogames for hours.
hmm, I actually loss weight in highschool due to skipping lunch to use the computer, not really caring to eat since I was preoccupied. |
If anything obesity is caused by a persons diet, not playing video games. There's an obvious connection to amount of physical activity to amount of time playing video games. Like Bunia and Sho said, myself included, it's easy to be a average weight and predominantly play video games.
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Saying that video games cause obesity is ridiculous. You could just as easily say that reading causes obesity, or that knitting causes obesity. Neither of those two activities require a lot of energy, either. Video games are a pastime. A fun hobby. To expect the act of playing a video game to also be fat-burning or particularly healthy or redeeming is unfair. The same is not asked of someone reading in a library, or sitting in a movie theater. Video games are unfairly spotlighted and demonized, in my opinion.
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I have a rather wonderfully fast metabolism, so my excessive use of the computer/playing of games overall isn't a factor in any phantom obesity. :lol:
Honestly, who the hell cares so much about others' obesity this much, anyway? Whether they're obese from purposefully fattening up on muscle-enhancers like Muscle Milk for the football team, or if they're obese from being couch potatoes... They're obese. I hate statistics of obesity especially. I don't give a sh*t how many adults in our country are obese. Nor, for that matter, how many children. And so help you if you try to compare it to the statistics of another country's obesity... I'll hate you all the more. The world is obsessed about pigeonholing and correcting, but isn't aware of what effect this kind of mentality has on individuals. Sure, it's great that weight loss regimens like Jenny Craig are advertised to death on TV. Okay. But why to death? Let us up for air. Let our culture not once more become the buxom blonde bimbos with their sharp-dressing lanky male counterparts. |
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