Wii will, Wii will… exercise you

Wowzer, are we living in Bladerunner?

Forget shimmying up ropes and being thrown into a freezing municipal pool by a butch swimming teacher, kids of today should be getting fit with ‘virtual PE’, say experts.

According to the Independent on Sunday, games consoles such as the Nintendo Wii could hold the key to fighting obesity in our youngsters.

Active computer games, which require players to stand up and throw themselves around as they play, could boost exercise and get the most ‘at risk’ obese children out of their sedentary rut.

In the UK, child obesity figures have trebled within a generation and 10% of six-year-olds are now considered obese. The figure rises to 17% in 15-year-olds and 20% of adults in the UK wobble atop this dangerous precipice.

If things don’t change sharpish, Government reports say, over a quarter of children will be obese by 2050. And with obesity comes related health problems such as diabetes and heart conditions.

So now the Wii is being considered a possible saviour, having dazzled in a recent five-school trial in Worcestershire.

Pupils who repeatedly ducked out of real P.E. were instead treated to virtual P.E. lessons on the console. Unsurprisingly, heart monitoring revealed these pupils got fitter with regular use.

What wasn’t tested though, was the angry heart rate of the pupils who had loyally turned up to all their P.E. lessons rain or shine and then weren’t treated to a go on the computer as a reward.

Of course, they could just stop selling off school playing fields and chuck a couple of two quid footballs into each playground, but that would be far too old-school.