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popsci_2013 00153.txt

#Wii Fit Plus Helps Diabetics Control Blood sugar As you might already know playing Wii Fit is a funny thing. It feels kind of like cheating because aren supposed t I to be grunting it out at the gym or something? but it is also genuinely fatiguing. Now a new study suggests it s no cop out. In a randomized controlled trial older adults with type 2 diabetes had better controlled blood sugar after playing Wii Fit Plus for half an hour a day every day for 12 weeks. They also lost some weight a little more than a kilogram on average and lowered their body mass indices slightly. Their blood sugar#level#reductions were on par with study participants who received the â##standard careâ#doctors normally give people with diabetes the U k. s National Health service reports. This is encouraging because getting set up to play Wii Fit Plus is cheaper than other forms of diabetes care National Health service reports. Plus I m guessing there s little danger of negative side effects. One major drawback of the study is had that people trouble following the routine which may have biased the results for example if the dropouts left because they weren t seeing any good effects. Out of the 220 volunteers researchers recruited for the study one-third eventually dropped out the BBC reports. The National Health service has a good breakdown of the study which is one of the first to so rigorously examine the health benefits of active video games. The bottom line is that there s evidence playing Wii Fit Plus daily can help those with type 2 diabetes though it s not exactly a proven treatment yet. The research was published in the journal#BMC Endocrine Disorders. NHS BBC o

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