Most people tend to associate video gaming with inactivity. Not anymore. A new study by Liverpool John Moores University has shown that gaming can actually burn calories (no, it's not DDR). Their studies involved gaming consoles, like the Wii, that used body motion to control the video game.

The results of these studies were amazing (much like the results of a similar study). An average gamer in the UK spends 12.2 hours a week gaming; if that gamer had used a Wii, then the gamer could have burned up 1,813 calories.

In "body motion gaming," heart rates jump to about 130 beats per minute (compared to 85 in more traditional consoles). While this is no replacement for actually going out and getting engaged in real sports, it's better than nothing. As an added note, it's interesting to note that guys actually use up more energy than women do.

So if you've been looking for an excuse to get a Nintendo Wii, this is it, you could say you're getting it for "health reasons."

Over at Smarthouse, they've written an interesting article on sodas and how it affects gamers. It's funny how that works though, since the information they've put in is applicable to most soda-drinkers.

The strangest thing about this article is how soda is presented much like a drug. While specifically mentioning Coke and how there used to be cocaine in it a very long time ago, they may have taken the angle a bit too far, even while trying to explain the problems with having too much sugar in your system. That being said, the article is insightful for showing what happens in one hour after grabbing that soda, but also makes it somewhat alarmist.

For instance, they mention that you take in your daily recommended allowance of sugar within the first ten minutes of drinking that one soda. "You don't immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness," the article continues, "because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down."

Even more interesting here is their description at the forty-minute mark:

Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate (sic), your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.

So, are gamers taking drugs? Maybe, but then so is everyone else as far as this article is concerned. The sugar and caffeine crash they talk about here should happen to almost anyone who drinks a soda, but is probably more noticeable in people whose butts are parked around a PC or console, such as ourselves.

Still, it kind of explains why some gamers fall asleep during those eight-hour raids through Molten Core and still don't mind having gaming marathons. Maybe we should get more exercise besides DDR. What do you think?

"The greatest threat to our national security is pediatric obesity," says US Surgeon General Richard Carmona (That's not him up there), last June in American College of Sports Medicine Annual Conference in Denver. Strong words, but given that health agencies predict that by 2010, one kid in every five here will be clinically obese, the predictions are truly shocking, and that's not even mentioning the onset of diseases like insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hepatic disease - diseases that used to be isolated to adults.

While health groups tend to blame this growing problem on too much "recreational screen time" (video gaming and TV), the usual cure they've given is decidedly just as painful as the ailment: Lessen play time, and exercise.

According to Dr. Ernie Medina (top image) of XRtainment Zone though, the problem isn't so much about trying to wean people off gaming for health's sake, it's about the alternatives. Much like how food lovers dread replacing their yummy snacks with tasteless tofu substitutes, most people see exercise as a chore - something that just isn't any fun to do.

It was with this mindset that Dr. Medina made his program proposal at the Games for Health Conference last Thursday. The program discussed that instead of taking away recreations like gaming and TV for health's sake, why not marry the two? And no, Dr. Median wasn't talking about people just watching TV as they did their laps, or played consoles as they pedalled away.

The program called for a more widespread  introduction of exergaming, that is, where exercise itself is part of the gameplay - Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is one clear example of this unusual gaming genre.

Dr. Medina was also quick to point out the program's benefits, like how age mattered little in exergaming - pictures of the elderly playing DDR alongside children in their XRtainment Zone health center were shown as an example of the lack of social boundaries that the program potentially had. And for parents, it was a very safe way of exercise even compared to more high-impact exercises and sports.

Dr. Medina mentioned the schools and the California-based HMO that adopted his office's exergaming equipment, and how it was affecting their PE session - students were actually looking forward to the exercise.

Given that the next gen consoles we've been looking at are going to focus on player interactivity - the Wiimote in particular - we thought this'd help us get a better view of how gaming can be translated into something healthy and constructive, and work hand-in-hand with its long-time nemesis, exercise.

Forecasted headline within the next few months: "I lost 60 pounds in 30 days. Thanks Zelda!"