Active Video Games for Improving Mental Health and Physical Fitness—An Alternative for Children and Adolescents during Social Isolation: An Overview
Open accessAbstract
The aim of this study was to synthesize the evidence on the effects of active video games (AVGs) on mental health, physical fitness and body composition of children and adolescents. A search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed; MEDLINE (by Ovid); SportDiscus, Cochrane library systematic reviews (CENTRAL) and EMBASE with no language restrictions during October 2020. Reviews on the use of AVGs were included in the study. We use the AMSTAR (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews) scale to analyze the methodological quality of the studies. Seventeen systematic reviews and meta-analyzes were included on the effects of AVGs with 30 to 4728 children and adolescents of both sexes with ages ranging from 6 to 19 years. In five studies, the population was overweight or obese. Regarding the quality, 12 studies were of moderate quality, two had high quality, two had low quality and one showed very low quality. The analyzed data indicate that the use of AVGs with a frequency of 1 to 3 times a week with durations of between 10 and 90 min per day shows positive effects on mental health and physical functioning. There was moderate quality evidence that AVGs can result in benefits for self-esteem, increased energy expenditure, physical activity and reduced body mass index in children and adolescents who used AVGs in the home environment. Further research is needed on this tool to help in the process of social isolation and consequently in promoting health and well-being.
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Features such as game-based rewards, challenges, competition, and feedback can enhance motivation, engagement, and enjoyment of physical activity, leading to increased participation in exercise.
“Features such as game-based rewards, challenges, competition, and feedback can enhance motivation, engagement, and enjoyment of physical activity, leading to increased participation in exercise [71–73].”
From Health Benefits of Video Games in Adolescents and Young Adults (2026) · cites this paper as [72]
The Discussion reports that exergames can increase motivation, pleasure and engagement, with responses to competition varying by participant. The Results report increased physical activity and adherence among children and adolescents, but the paper does not establish that rewards, challenges or feedback produce those effects, or that the motivational effects lead to increased exercise participation. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPlaying AVGs can elicit physical activity levels of moderate intensity.
“Several studies have also demonstrated that playing AVGs can elicit physical activity levels of moderate intensity [72, 75, 76] and have found associations with improvements in body composition, including positive effects on body mass index and body fat percentage [76, 77].”
From Health Benefits of Video Games in Adolescents and Young Adults (2026) · cites this paper as [72]
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“Several studies have also demonstrated that playing AVGs can elicit physical activity levels of moderate intensity [72, 75, 76] and have found associations with improvements in body composition, including positive effects on body mass index and body fat percent - age [76, 77].”
- Authors
- Santos, I. K. D., Medeiros, R. C. D. S. C. D., Medeiros, J. A. D., Almeida-Neto, P. F. D., Sena, D. C. S. D., Cobucci, R. N., Oliveira, R. S., Cabral, B. G. D. A. T., & Dantas, P. M. S.
- Affiliations
- Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-970, Brazil
- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (BR)
- Graduate Program in Physical Education, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-970, Brazil
- Universidade Potiguar (BR)
- Department of Physical Activity, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-970, Brazil
- Corresponding author
- Dantas, Paulo Moreira Silva
- ORCID
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-02-09
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1641
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7915633
- OpenAlex
- W3128249899
- Cited by
- 48
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 10
- FWCI
- 1.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Code 001)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Keywords
- exergames, mental health, physical fitness, body composition, children, adolescents, social isolation, self-esteem, energy expenditure, physical activity, body mass index, overweight and obesity, home-based exercise
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Physical Fitness, Social Isolation, Exercise, Video Games, Young Adult
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