Health Affairs Journal has published an article examines a dance exercise program in Henderson, Nevada: “It’s too early into this pilot program to report clinical outcomes, says Humana’s Rhonda Mayland. But anecdotally, she says, many members who regularly play Dancetown at her Las Vegas-area guidance center have lost weight and register fewer complaints over chronic illnesses like arthritis.”
ABSTRACT: “At the heart of any promising plan to transform the health care system lie two priorities: broader access to care for patients, and deeper engagement in health care by patients. Although the problem of expanding access to affordable care remains unresolved, new tools for deepening consumers’ engagement in health care are proliferating like viral spores in a virtual pond. Digital games, including virtual realities, computer simulations, and online play, are valuable tools for fostering patient participation in health-related activities. This is why gaming is the latest tool in the arsenal to improve health outcomes: gaming makes health care fun.”
“Janet Shanta has all the enthusiasm of the typical video game enthusiast — and perhaps more. She raves about playing the game Dancetown with her friends. They spend two hours playing it every Monday afternoon in a Henderson, Nevada, community center near Las Vegas. Dancetown entices groups of players to perform dance steps on a digitized footpad, following a set of visual and musical cues from a computer. The enticement works, according to Shanta. ‘We like music, we like to dance, and this is just fun,’ she says.”
“But please understand, Shanta adds: this is more than mere competition or mind-numbing entertainment. ‘We get our heart rate up. It’s eye-foot coordination, it’s rhythm, it’s concentration. You have to pay attention to what you’re doing,’ Shanta says. And Shanta is no mere game-obsessed teeny-bopper; she’s soon to be 68 years old, and her favorite dance partner, her husband John, is a youthful 70. The considerable health implications of their activities become clear when you learn the results. In the six months since she has been playing Dancetown, Janet Shanta, who once struggled with high cholesterol, has been able to drop her LDL by fourteen points. “The good cholesterol went up and the bad went down!” she exclaims. Her cholesterol now measures 258/211. Her doctors still want her to get her LDL below 200, she says, ‘but I don’t want medication. So I’ll do it with an active lifestyle.’ “
Read the rest of the article at Health Affairs
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