What if you could play a video game and achieve better health? What if you weren't a teenager? What if you were the grandparent of a teenager? Could you still reap the benefits of a video game that gets you up off the couch and dancing like crazy?

The answer is... yes. That is, if you're dancing to the video game known as Dance Dance Revolution. In a six week University of Pittsburgh pilot study, 31 postmenopausal women who were 48 to 70 years old and led sedentary lifestyles, were asked to play the game. Dance Dance Revolution is an interactive video game that challenges players to follow the dance moves that are shown on the screen, by moving their feet on a pressure sensitive mat in the right sequence. Players score points for doing it correctly, and then they progress through increasingly complicated levels.

The women were supposed to play the game for 30 minutes twice a week. Many of the women found the game to be so much fun, that they asked the researchers if they could play longer, more often.

The women who completed the study lost weight, with the more overweight participants losing up to 20 pounds. Women with high blood pressure lowered their pressure, some by 20 points.

Stephanie Studenski, MD, MPH, the lead researcher of the study has lost 50 pounds since she started playing the game.

Read the press release from the American Geriatrics Society...

• Experts at 2008 American Geriatrics Society Annual Scientific Meeting Reveal How Popular Video Dance Game Helps Postmenopausal Women

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