Could a dance revolution be the solution?

Like a spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down, video games may be the perfect sweetener to make exercise more appealing.

America is badly in need of a cure for its national epidemic of obese and overweight citizens. The problem is not only prevalent amongst adults, but also in our children.

Our lifestyles have become both increasingly fast-paced and sedentary. We're choosing more high-calorie convenient foods to fit our busy schedules. We have less time to exercise and more inactive pastimes to choose from when we do have the opportunity to relax. Satellite TV offers us hundreds of channels, the Internet can take us around the world without us ever leaving our office chairs and we don't even have to walk all the way out to the driveway to get in our cars and drive to the video store to rent a movie any more — we can just wait for the mailman to bring Netflix right to our front doors.

No wonder so many of us are getting fat.

The pandemic has even reached Japan as the latest generation of a culture known for its longevity and healthy diet takes a new decidedly American approach to food, choosing more and more burgers and fried chicken wings over fish and miso soup. Yet the government there is reacting quickly to try to combat the problem by investing the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars into research and new programs for both overweight children and their parents.

In comparison, Japan's propensity for overweight and obese citizens is slight compared to America's. The latest figures show 8 percent of Japanese children are obese or at risk of obesity while 30 percent of American kids are overweight. Statistics show 65 percent of American adults are overweight.

All this extra weight can amount to a plethora of other complications, including high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis and some cancers.

Yet, most readers will probably not be surprised by any of these facts and observations. You've probably been hearing and reading similar commentary for years. So why aren't things changing?

Schools in West Virginia which has one of the nation's worst obesity problems, took an innovative step toward making a difference recently when they introduced Dance Dance Revolution, an interactive video game, in all 157 of the state's middle schools.

As arrows scroll down a screen, players step on corresponding arrows on a mat in tune with the beat of the music. Even at a medium speed, players can easily work up a sweat after just a song or two.

In the next three years, the state expects to place the video game in another 753 public schools.

The move is a clever way to motivate kids to get up and moving while keeping with an activity most are already addicted to: video games. The adage, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," comes to mind. When years of warnings and revised food pyramids seem to be making zero impact, it's time to think outside the box.

Erin Stuber is the managing editor of the Columbia Basin Herald, and a big fan of Dance Dance Revolution.