Obesity has become a
prevalent phenomenon. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines overweight
and obesity as “abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to
health.” (Health Topics: Obesity, WHO) According to the Chinese University of
Hong Kong (CUHK), “21% of youngsters are overweight. The number of them has
risen by 50% in the past 15 years.” (TopNews.in, Mohit Joshi, 2008.)
The issue can be
attributed to the lack of exercise among young people. It certainly deserves
our great attention, as obesity has lots of impacts: heart disease, diabetes or
even cancer. Some people put blame on studying. Is that true?
Asia’s education
system has always been described as examination-oriented. Students work under
pressure. According to CUHK, “32.2% spent one to two hours per day on homework
and studying, and 41.8% spent two hours or more per day on homework and
studying.” (Consultancy Study on Sport Report, CUHK, 2009, p.17) After all, we
have about 3 hours left free. We barely have free time. How come do we want to
spend our luxurious time on doing sports? Why don’t we take a rest?
People normally
suggest ‘better time management’ to those overweight: striking a balance
between studying and doing exercise. Yet this suggestion are boring and no news
already. I believe every rational one knows how to manage their time. Hereby, I
would like to provide statistics about where people do sports, and how often,
so that we can have a better understanding on how my following suggestion
works.
According to the “Consultancy
Study on Sport” submitted by The CUHK, about 60% people do sports at public
facilities (built by the government); interestingly, only 8.8% of us do sports
at home. (Consultancy Study on Sport Report, CUHK, 2009, p.10) It seems our tiny
home is not a place for stretching. On the other hand, about 40% of Hong
Kongers do sports only once or twice a week. That surely isn’t enough, as 30
minutes of physical activity every day are suggested in many researches. (See -
Exercise: How much do I need every day? - MayoClinic)
I’m not suggesting new
ways of time management here. Instead, I’m suggesting new means to alleviate
the issue. That is, virtual sports. Virtual sports is playing sports through
electronic gadgets, which also means people can play sports at home. Wii is one
of the typical examples of virtual sports.
There
are many critics on the effectiveness of doing virtual sports: Virtual sports
are just video games; the feeling of playing real sports with friends can by no
means be replaced; how can virtual sports increase stamina? Does playing Wii
help ease the tension of being overweight?
With
the convenience brought by these devices, like Wii or Xbox, we are now able to
do sports at home. The percentage of people doing sports at home are hoped to
increase. At least for people who have those devices, all of them will try
sports at home. While people are at home, it’s much easier to turn on the sport
device in their living room than wearing sports suits, going down stairs and do
real sports. Let’s see if the following standpoints can persuade fellow
overweight readers to change your lifestyle a little bit.
Physically,
there’s no doubt that virtual sports can never be compared to the real ones.
Yet, it doesn’t mean virtual sports do nothing to our body. Both require
stamina and concentration power, but the real ones require more. Real sports,
basketball for example, can be of great help. Real sports plays an important
role in the process of building muscles and combating obesity. But in reality,
we don’t have so much time and space playing ball games. According to The
American Council on Exercise, playing virtual sports, like Wii, burns less calories
when compared to the real one. Let’s take Boxing as example. Wii boxing burns 7.2
calories/minute, while real boxing burns 10.2 calories/minute. There are extreme cases: Wii Golf burns 8
calories per minute, but driving range golf burns only 3.9 calories per
minute. The report states that “The Wii
sports games are generally not as effective as real sports but
certainly better than sitting on the couch.” (dietblog, Wii Sports
vs. Real Sports: Which Burns More Calories?, Mike Howard)
What we can play through electronic devices are all kinds of
sports while we can only play certain kinds of sports in real terms. Virtual
sports give us opportunity to try all kinds of sports, and require little
technique as well. Players are required to hold the Wii remote and move it
alone towards different directions to reach a certain goal in game, while in
real term, players are also required to move their equipment towards different
directions, but with power and angle calculated. In other words, virtual sports
offer us a sense of satisfaction. Besides, Wii gives us more chance trying new
sports, so we can find out something new and interesting. In other words, if we
found a new sport interesting and satisfactory, we are encouraged to try it in
reality. That means Wii and Xbox can promote real sports. Players gain an equal
sense of achievement, if not more, through playing video games.
Also, when we are talking about social value, never should we
reject the idea that playing unreal sports online can be a good means to
enlarge ones social circle. According to Mayo Clinic, childhood obesity may
lead to low self-esteem and bullying, behavior and learning problems, and depression.
Doing sports can provide them a sense of satisfaction, enhancing their
confidence. Easing some mental issues, virtual sports can serve some of the
above purposes. Nowadays, online Wii and Xbox games are available, people can
easily get online and play virtual sports with friends. It is common that
players can make new friends through the internet, which also serves as an
advantage of doing real sports – fostering interpersonal interaction.
Economic value may be overlooked when talking about this
topic. People spend much on buying electronic devices, such as Xbox and Wii. According
to Newzoo game market report, Americans spend $25.3B each year on video games. Basically
we spend more time on searching good video games than finding sports materials.
In addition with online store, like Xbox Live and Nintendo Shop, we can just
sit at home and download games from the store; so it is easier to buy a new
sport game than buying equipment for certain sports. We can play different “sports”
but we need not buy other equipment. On the other hand, we can save time from
preparing and asking friends to join, but just sitting at home and turn on your
device, connect with random friends and enjoy “sports”. So we will have no
excuse not doing any sports.
After all, there must be a
reason to invent virtual sports like Xbox and Wii, or else the market itself
will eliminate these device. Virtual sports can be better than the real one, if
we have little time and space. One thing to be reminded: I am not saying
virtual sports are really better. Doing virtual sports is just a new and
convenient way of easing obesity, but it’s not the ultimate solution. The
ultimate solution is still going outside and do the real sports. Now with
technological innovation, we should have no more excuse not doing exercise. We
can do exercise in our tiny crowded home.
Reference List
CUHK. (2009). Consultancy Study on
Sport for All Participation Patterns of Hong Kong People in Physical
Activities, p.10 & p.17
Mike Howard. (2008). Wii Sports vs.
Real Sports: Which Burns More Calories? By The American Council on Exercise.
Newzoo Games. (2010). Consumer
spending in US, UK, GER, FR, NL & BE.
Mayo Clinic. (2012). Childhood
obesity - Complications
