The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

Mobile ExerGame Tourality featured this evening on a prime time TV Gadget show. There are four different game modes and games are created online via a Google Maps based application and then uploaded to the community server for play. Using a location aware phone specific coordinates are “captured” and points accumulated. A mobile data connection is used to update players in realtime.

January is not quite at an end and already one of my predictions for 2009 has come to fruition!

I have just finished rather an intense period of grant proposal writing. Phew! In making the case for support, one of the issues that arose was the impact that it would have on Health Promotion research and practice. In essence the proposal was about developing a new model of health behavior that would lead to forms of health promotion intervention supported by mobile technology. The best acronym that I could come up with was a “C.A.T.” – Clever Application of Technology.
Now CATs come in all different shapes and sizes, some are domesticated and others are in the wild, but just how many Health Promotion CATs have you spotted? Okay, an informative and resourceful web presence is a good use of technology, but it is pretty much standard practice now. So I don’t think it would really count as a CAT.
I had a hunch that there are really not that many Health Promotion CATs out there so I decided to try and track some down. Once I finally managed to get hold of an electronic copy of the conference program form last year’s International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity’s (ISBNPA) annual conference, I got out my virtual binoculars and searched for anything to do with “technology”.
Sightings were scarce to say the least and I only managed to spot 5 CATs in the whole program of over 300 different research presentations! The thing is, 4 of them (of which one was my own CAT) constituted the symposium “Active Computer Games as a Tool to Promote Physical Activity Among Children”. The other remaining CAT that I caught sight of was on the use of GPS to map physical activity patterns in a rural New Zealand community.
So there you have it, only 5 CATs were spotted at last year’s ISBNPA conference and 4 of them were about ExerGaming! Whether you think of it as 4 out of 5 or 8 out of 10, it was a strong showing for ExerGaming CATs. But more significantly, if this is a barometer of the Health Promotion CAT population in general, it indicates that for the time being at least, they are still pretty rare creatures.

A recent magazine feature on the top 50 Fitness Gadgets ranging from electronic devices through to high tech clothing that would obviously help you on your way to any New Year’s resolutions to take some/more exercise and get fit/fitter, has got me thinking.
“What would my top fitness gadgets be?” After pondering the question on and off for some time, I decided that my choice of gadget(s) would have to do some extra that was that little bit special – some added feature or function that you couldn’t get any other way. As my thoughts turned to narrowing down my list, there was something I couldn’t just put my finger on. Then it came to me – what they were about was “Electronic Awareness Raising (EAR)”.
So in raising my awareness whilst exercising of my speed/distance and heart rate, one of my top fitness gadgets has to be an advanced sports watch (in my case a Garmin Forerunner 50).
My other choice of top fitness gadget goes to the Nintendo Wii Fit. Here’s the rub – it is not to do with increasing my fitness – but rather raising my awareness of when I am NOT exercising. Somehow that small, slightly irritating, anthropomorphic character that monitors your progress has got inside my head. I know it is only a computer program responding to when I do and don’t exercise. And I know that it knows that I know that it is only a program, but somehow I have become very aware of when I am NOT exercising and that I should do something about it!

As a new year dawns, and resolutions beckon, I trust that we can all make the best that we can of the opportunities afforded by ExerGames as a stepping-stone to starting and maintaining a physically active lifestyle.

If you are embarking on any new physical activity, remember to warm-up and cool-down and don’t over do it as unaccostomed exercise can cause muscle soreness.

At the start of 2009 my “Quest for the Perfect ExerGame” continues. I am definitely much further forward than I was at the beginning of last year, however there are still many more levels to progress through. May I wish you a Happy New Year 2009 and thank you for your continued interest.