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Video Gamer Death... Could It Have Been Prevented?

By Michael Torchia

Vindication can be a regrettable thing. A young man in England was recently reported by the UK Sun to have died while playing "Wii Fit". I've spent the last few months in the online space and in several radio broadcasts raising my voice against the health dangers posed by video games such as the Wii system from Nintendo.

Whether on my sites, FitnessUndercover.com and OperationFitness.com, or on my weekly broadcast radio show on www.kcaaradio.com in Los Angeles, I have been leading a lonely fight against the billion-dollar video game industry whose yearly income now exceeds Hollywood's in some respects. Many responders in the blogosphere and callers on the radio airwaves have called me "deluded", "a crank", or "uninformed". I've also been called other names that I can't repeat in front of polite company.

Perhaps my many critics feel I am sitting in judgment of their lifestyle choices and nothing provokes passionate outbursts like questioning the entertainment industry. This is not the case, as I am a firm believer in attaining better health through balanced fitness, balanced lifestyle habits, and yes, balanced enjoyment of sedentary entertainment. Movies, video games, and internet surfing have their place in my life too (I am writing this message on the internet!), but there are health costs associated with every activity.

My warning was simple: It is unwise to encourage end users of video games to give in to the coach-potato lifestyle and not expect their health to suffer. Neither is it wise for Nintendo to release a video game without proper warnings that require Wii users to suddenly get up from their couches and begin stomping around without proper warm-up.

As a health and fitness professional for the last 30 years, my main concern is the decreasing levels of fitness among younger generations and what it means for the future. I am not anti-corporate, anti-gaming, or anti-television. I'm just trying to get the young and old, and all those folks in between, to live a little longer. And increase their quality of life.

To Nintendo's credit, one of their corporate representatives has recently been in touch with me for the purpose of opening a dialogue about the health concerns of their gaming products. This is good start. In the mean time, I'll continue to raise the alarm about the need to get outside more, stay on the couch less, and perhaps this way we can avoid any more occurrences of "video game health syndrome".

"The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer