Exergaming: Enjoyable Health Revolution

Exergaming

Over the previous few a long time, many dad and mom probably stated the phrases “Your brain will turn to mush,” to their youngsters for enjoying too many video video games.

While extreme, addictive online game play can have a unfavourable affect on the mind, current research have steered a number of advantages related to video video games. But it’s not so simple as sitting in your mother’s basement for hours, to not be seen till 4 a.m.

Introducing exergaming

Combining the digital world with train, the place gamers use their physique’s bodily actions to play video games akin to digital bowling, dancing or golf, exergaming has emerged as a hopeful instrument for neurological sufferers dealing with neurodegenerative issues like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s illness (PD). Data revealed in Nature’s npj Digital Medicine journal confirmed exergames having optimistic impacts on completely different cognitive elements, like reminiscence, focus, planning and considering skill.

In a randomized managed trial carried out by Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, optimistic structural adjustments within the mind had been famous, with an obvious correlation to exergaming. Deepak Nair, MD, the vice president of the Neuroscience Service Line at OSF HealthCare, calls these findings a “game changer.”

“What they saw was that patients who are in the intervention arm, using the exergaming component, maintain more brain mass than patients who did not and receive standard of care. So, that’s very interesting,” Dr. Nair says.

If these findings hold true in larger study pools, Dr. Nair says medical providers would be able to take a specific exercise algorithm and use it as a disease-modifying therapy for dementia. 

This is important, Dr. Nair says, because dementias are progressive, degenerative diseases where you continuously lose brain tissue and volume, which leads to further neurologic decline. So, if you can slow that down, you’re solving the true problem, which is preserving as much brain tissue as possible. 

“That’s what everyone is in search of,” he provides. “It’s telling you that you’re slowing down the progression of dementia.”

An extra study in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation suggests extra hope for sufferers with Parkinson’s illness (PD). The findings recommend that neuroanimation-based exergaming for sufferers with mild-to-moderate PD are “feasible, safe and effective in improving multiple secondary measures.” The analysis concludes that exergaming applications must be carried out in an extended interval, as advantages had been proven at 12 weeks and past.

Why is exergaming displaying such promise?

First, the bodily train that exergaming gives is rather more attainable than different health routines.

“The level of exercise that we’re talking about with exergaming, you don’t have to be a champion powerlifter or marathon runner,” Dr. Nair says. “We’re talking about regular physical stimulation for your cardiovascular system and nervous system. There are huge benefits, even at the low end of that scale.”

Second, each your nervous system and cardiovascular system are getting a wholesome enhance.

“You’re getting patients to focus on this target, however the platform is set up, by engaging in a fun exercise mentally, as you’re doing the physical part of this. You’re getting both systems targeted and stimulated,” Dr. Nair says. 

Lastly, it’s enjoyable.

“If they’re not enjoying themselves, people aren’t going to do it. Because most of the benefits are not going to be seen right up front,” Dr. Nair provides. “The benefit comes from sticking to it long-term. The gaming aspect of this is likely what drives adherence. You make the experience more enjoyable and entertaining, so that you’re more likely to stick with it.” 

Even before the findings of exergaming were released, Dr. Nair and his colleagues have told countless patients about the incredible benefits that exercise has on patients with neurological conditions.

Now, an additional tool may be entering the conversation, offering hope to patients searching for a solution.

To learn more about neuroscience services available at OSF, visit the OSF HealthCare web site.