Investigating the Feasibility of Exergame on Sleep and Emotion Among University Students

Abstract

Sleep deprivation and emotional problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression commonly occur in university students. Exercise is beneficial to ameliorate those problems; however, university students are not serious to take up physical activity. Commercially available exergame such as Xbox® 360 Kinect is one of the alternatives. This study aims at investigating the feasibility and the potential efficacy of using Xbox 360 Kinect game among health care undergraduate students. A pilot two-armed parallel randomized controlled trial was implemented. A total of 36 undergraduate students was recruited and randomly allocated into the intervention group (playing Xbox 360 Kinect) or the control group (continue with normal daily routine). The intervention group received 30 minutes of Xbox Kinect activity, three times per week for 6 weeks. Information on psychology (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21) and sleep (Functional Outcome Sleep Questionnaire-30) status was collected at pre-and postexperiment. The researcher-developed feasibility questionnaire was given to the participants in the intervention group at post-experiment. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to investigate within-between group comparison, and significance value was set at p ≤ 0.05. The analysis found potential improvement on sleep (p = 0.039) and psychological health (p = 0.002-0.067). The intervention protocol is feasible and highly accepted by the participants. The required optimum amount of dosage, sample size, and the use of outcome measures are suggested from the findings. This pilot and feasibility study supports the use of Xbox 360 Kinect games in practice and to be implemented for future research.

Effects of an Immersive Virtual Reality Exergame on University Students’ Anxiety, Depression, and Perceived Stress: Pilot Feasibility and Usability Study

“…In line with a study by Yunus et al [ 61 ], we observed that university students were willing to accept playing an iVR-based exergame as a form of exercise. FitXR was perceived to be acceptable, and the majority of our participants (11/15, 73%) were glad to recommend FitXR to their friends.…”

“…Although university students are at high risk for mental issues [ 2 , 4 - 9 ], limited research has looked into using exergames to promote health among university students. A previous study suggested that playing a virtual reality exergame 3 times per week for 6 weeks could improve depression in healthy university students [ 61 ]. Our results also support this finding, as the depression scores measured by the BDI-II further decreased after participants played the iVR head-mounted display–based exergame for 6 weeks (pretest score: 8.33; posttest score: 5.40).…”

“…Our results also support this finding, as the depression scores measured by the BDI-II further decreased after participants played the iVR head-mounted display–based exergame for 6 weeks (pretest score: 8.33; posttest score: 5.40). However, we failed to obtain results that reflected whether playing an exergame could improve anxiety among healthy university students [ 61 ].…”

Effect of the Nintendo Ring Fit Adventure Exergame on Running Completion Time and Psychological Factors Among University Students Engaging in Distance Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…In 2007, Nintendo used Wii Fit (Nintendo Co, Ltd) in the rehabilitation of patients with Parkinson disease and stroke [ 12 , 13 ]. In addition, some research indicated that exergames demonstrated a positive effect on sleep quality shown by the Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (CPSQI) score and mood disorders shown by the 5-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) score [ 14 , 15 ], whereas other studies found that exergaming could alleviate the symptoms of chronic low back pain [ 8 ]. Despite the existence of studies on the effect of exergaming on health maintenance or psychological improvement, it is still necessary to conduct extensive investigations on the changes or improvements of physical fitness among students after performing exergames.…”

Are exergames an option to cope with sleep disorders during the COVID-19 outbreak?

“…To the best of our knowledge, only one study has investigated the effect of exergames on sleep. Yunus et al (2020) 37 investigated the effects of the exergame Kinect Sports for Xbox 360 Kinect on sleep and emotional well-being among students. The participants were submitted to 30 minutes of intervention, three times per week for 6 weeks.…”