US Surgeon General to also try exergaming?

2-11-10: Here's another federal VIP, our US Surgeon General, giving her vision for a healthy and fit America.

Hmmmm, wouldn't that be wild if we could get the US Surgeon General Regina squaring off against 1st Lady Michelle in an exergaming tournament playing Makoto, racing each other on a Gamebike, or competing head on with their fave video game while on a Gamerciser?

Thanks to Pam Sampson of the Dept of Public Health, County of San Bernardino, for the following:

Information regarding the Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation 2010. For the full 21 pager visit… http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/obesityvision/obesityvision2010.pdf

The Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin, M.D., urges that “child care programs should identify and implement approaches that reflect expert recommendations on physical activity, screen time limitations, good nutrition, and healthy sleep practices,” all of which were key actions at the Healthy Kids, Healthy Future conference in September 2009. Action steps to support the Surgeon General’s goal of standardizing state regulations on physical activity, nutrition and screen time, are being addressed by the HKHF Steering Committee. Through changes in policy, dissemination and implementation of best practices, and continued development of the evidence base in research, the child care environment will become a healthier place for kids to grow and develop.

1st Lady to try exergaming???

2-11-10: Will we soon see 1st Lady Michelle Obama try out an exergaming game? That might not be as far-fetched as it sounds, given her new campaign, "Let's Move".

1st Lady Michelle Obama unveils a new initiative as part of her campaign to fight pediatric obesity: "Let's Move". Check it out and join for updates!

One of my goals is to get her to see how exergaming can be of value to her "Let's Move" campaign, especially for the intended target audience--kids who are sedentary (and probably avid videogamers!)--and let her see that exergaming can be a tool to get them to be more physically active. Call it FUN SWEAT!

Feds get into gaming!

2-11-10: Check this out! Feds are getting into gaming for kid's health! Also announced: a contest for game ideas using the USDA food database. Stay tuned for more on that as it beomes available!









http://www.bisnow.com/washington_dc_tech_news_story.php?p=7047

Feds get into gaming for tween health!

2-5-10: Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra hosted a workshop with 31 experts (including Digitalmill's Ben Sawyer and Beth Bryant, and UCSB's Debra Lieberman) to gather insight from leading experts in the fields of gaming and technology to inform the development of a nutrition game-design challenge. The Feds will be launching a challenge to come up with videogames that can get "tweens" (ages 9-12) eating better and moving more! Wow!!!

I wonder if Duke's Dr. David Katz and Nuval will be involved with this challenge. That is a great metric for nutrition games. Also, Dr. Roy Vartabedian's Nutripoints would also work as a great metric for a nutrition game. Both consist of databases of food ratings.

You can read more about it at Office of Science and Technology blog. Stay tuned for the official announcement of the challenge, said to be coming out in a couple of weeks!