When it comes to managing type 1 diabetes, keeping blood glucose levels in check is a daily task, and exercise plays a big part. But, whether the basic chart(using a simple scale ranging from 1(barely any effort)to 10(full effort)) most of the patients use to gauge their conventional excercise can be applied to video game excercise as well remains a question. A recent study in the ‘Journal of Body Work and Movement Therapies’ delves into this question.

      Researchers set out to compare how well this scale works for both traditional (real) and video game (virtual) exercises. Participants with type 1 diabetes engaged in two 30-minute sessions: one running (real exercise) and the other playing Kinect Adventures! video game (virtual exercise). They measured exercise intensity using metabolic equivalent (MET), oxygen consumption, and heart rate.

Key findings:

• During real exercise, the effort scale (RPE - Rate of Perceived Exertion) matched well with the physiological measurements.
• However, during virtual exercise, this correlation was only moderate.
• Other metabolic and physiological variables didn’t show significant changes during virtual exercise.

      For people with type 1 diabetes, measuring how hard they're exercising with a video game might not be as accurate as in traditional exercise. This is important for managing blood glucose levels, as exercise intensity directly impacts glucose control.

      Given these findings, healthcare providers should be cautious when recommending the 6-20 point RPE scale for video game exercises. It seems that these activities might not provide a reliable measure of the actual exercise intensity.

Read More