Video gaming as a hobby is often considered an unhealthy way to spend one’s time. The perception is that video games involve sitting around for hours on a couch or chair and wasting the day away. But, that perception isn’t entirely true, in fact, some recent research from Betway indicates that playing video games could help you burn more calories than a workout. We don’t mean fitness-based video games either, you can burn calories sitting down and playing some of the most popular games on the market. Since you may be unaware let’s introduce you to the fitness benefits of video games.
Quick History On the Fitness Benefits of Video Games
While the Kinect ended up being a massive disappointment for those who bought it the accessory did come with a tonne of fitness video games that encouraged people to be active. The Kinect used motion controls to play every game so no matter what the player had to be stood and alert to play any title, but some games took this to the next level. Titles like UFC Personal Trainer, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, and many others were games focused on improving personal fitness through interactive video game scenarios.
One of the best-selling consoles of all time, the Nintendo Wii sold itself off the premise of the player controlling everything via movement. While the Kinnect used the actual player’s body as a controller the Wii stayed more standard and had the notorious Wii remotes to control the games.
With the Wii came one of the biggest fitness video games of all time, Wii Sports. The title sold roughly 83 million units in its lifetime and allowed players to take part in a number of sporting activities from the comfort of their own home. The Wii really helped bring fitness video games into the mainstream as the success of Wii Sports made people realize that video games and exercise could coexist and be incredibly popular.
New Discoveries
New research from Betway Insider indicates that fitness-based motion-controlled video games may not even be needed to give players a workout. In this study, it was determined that you can burn up to 538 calories in an average gaming session, which is a whopping 25% of the daily recommended caloric intake of an adult male.
Super popular titles like Fortnite, Call of Duty, and FIFA were revealed to be the best games to play in order to burn calories, with Grand Theft Auto V trailing behind but still offering the chance to burn 164 calories in 90 minutes of gaming.
You may be wondering how this works? How could you burn calories while playing a football game? The answer is that games like these increase a player’s heart rate thanks to their constant moments of tension. Call of Duty was actually the game that caused the biggest spike in heart rates with participants in the study averaging 119 BPM while playing this one.
See below for the full breakdown of Betway’s research.
