Dancing The Pounds Away

Dance Dance Revolution Video Game May Be Key To Kids' Weight Loss

(AP)  PEIA is also funding part of a two-year pilot project with the state Education Department to put the game in 20 schools for use in physical education and health classes. They hope children who play it at school will get their parents to buy it for home use.

In West Virginia, almost 43 percent of the nearly 6,000 children screened for heart disease risk were considered overweight or obese; more than 25 percent were obese.

"We are in a crisis in terms of childhood obesity not only in West Virginia but in America," said Linda Carson, a professor in WVU's School of Physical Education who is coordinating the study.

Prescreening tests on the overweight children have already raised concerns. Researchers expected to find problems with blood pressure and cholesterol, but they also found that blood flow to the arteries was being disrupted. The condition can lead to diabetes and heart disease.

Researchers at Syracuse University also have been looking at the potential for improved cardiovascular and physiological effects among children using the game. And at Penn State, researchers are studying how much energy children use playing games like Dance Dance Revolution.

In West Virginia, Robrietta Lambert, a physical education teacher at Franklin Elementary in Pendleton County, believes she already knows what all the studies will find. She has been using the video game in her classes since last fall.

"It improves cardiovascular health as well as eye-hand coordination," Lambert said. "Kids who don't like other things bloom on this. If they don't like basketball, jumping rope or ball activities, they like this."

Players stand on a 3-foot-square metal mat with an arrow on each side — pointing up, down, left and right. Arrows scroll up the television screen to the beat of more than 100 tunes chosen by the player. As an arrow moves across the screen, the player steps on the corresponding arrow on the platform. Hidden songs are uncovered as players improve their speed and scores.

Sounds easy enough, but throw in combinations of multiple arrows, add the quick speed at which veterans play, and the game is as challenging as an aerobics class. Most beginners are flushed in the face after one or two songs.

At Morgantown High School, one of the 20 pilot sites, curiosity about the flashing lights and upbeat music draw students inside Maxine Arbogast's health class. The game, which was first introduced as an arcade game in Japan, is attracting the sedentary and the seasoned athlete alike.

Senior Stephanie Bellman, 18, said she was already getting addicted after only a few days.

"I like how it creates a good mood," she said. "Even when you mess up you laugh."