Exergaming,
or active video gaming, has become an emerging trend in fitness,
education and health sectors. It is defined as digital games that
require bodily movements to play, stimulating an active gaming
experience to function as a form of physical activity (PA). Since
exergaming is becoming more popular, claims have been made on the
usefulness of exergaming. It has, for example, been entitled as being
“the future of fitness” by the American College of Sports Medicine,
promoting PA and health in children and adolescents. However, research
also suggests that long-term engagement in exergaming is difficult to
achieve, and there is a noticeable reservation towards exergaming by
parents, teachers and caregivers. To provide an overview and to outline
the future directions of exergaming, the aim of this review was to
critically illustrate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats of exergaming to promote PA and health in children and youth.
The available evidence indicates that exergaming has the potential to
improve health via an increase in PA. However, it seems that this
potential is frequently underexploited, and further developments such as
customized exergames are needed.
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