Background: Exergaming is a new genre of videogame that is geared toward promoting Physical Activity (PA) and mental fitness. In other words, it is a digital game that requires bodily movements to play, stimulating an active gaming experience to function as a form of physical activity. Consequently, PA can improve quality of life, extend life expectancy, and lower the risk of certain cancers. On top of that, it can reduce cardiovascular diseases, depression, etc., and the opposite is true for insufficient physical activity. Moreover, low maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) has an increased risk of premature death and the development of numerous chronic diseases, adolescent with a high VO2max have a lower risk of developing chronic diseases, all-cause mortality, and coronary artery disease. Therefore, active videogame (exergaming) systems have an auspicious effect on health improvement. This study aims at providing inactive adolescents with free access to a cycling exergaming platform for 24 weeks.
Method: A written informed consent was obtained from all participants before participation. The subjects were given a Sensewear armband (SWA) to wear for one week before being tested for blood pressure, body composition, VO2max, height, and weight. The assessments were carried out at baseline, after 12 weeks, and on the 24th week, and were conducted as similarly as possible in order to reduce any potential sources of error. Except for the PA assessment, all the tests were performed on the same day and lasted approximately 1–1.5 hours. The subjects were advised not to engage in any vigorous activity for 48 hours before the tests. Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 22, and the level of significance was set at 0.05. Two-way mixed ANOVA was used to examine the interaction between the dependent and independent variables.
Results: There was no significant difference between the groups (p = 0.059) after 24 weeks for MPA. VPA and VVPA levels after 24 weeks show no significant difference between groups (p = 0.563) and (p = 0.170), respectively. But MPA at 12 weeks showed significant difference between groups (p = 0.048). VPA at 12 weeks also had significant difference between groups (p = 0.049). No significant difference between the groups with respect to VO2peak, but a trend in statistical analysis showed some level of significance after the intervention (p = 0.137) and within the play group from baseline to post-tests (p = 0.100).
Conclusion: No significant change was detected for PA levels after 24 weeks, only a slight significant showed at 12 weeks. 24 weeks of exergaming improved VO2peak. The change in VO2peak had a trend towards significance in both control and play group. The long-term effects of exergaming on adolescents require further studies.
Keywords: VO2peak, Cardiorespiratory fitness, Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and exergaming.