The pulsating beat of the song "Paranoia" fills the room. Homer-Center High School senior Michael Pavolko and junior Breanne Skultety focus intently on the TV screen, stepping so rapidly in unison that it looks as though they've been practicing a highly choreographed dance routine for months.
Their bodies are moving. Their feet are a blur.
They're playing a video game.
The main goal is fun, but fitness is a welcome "side effect" of games like Konami's "Dance Dance Revolution," known to players as DDR. Such action-packed, interactive pastimes have captured the interest of teens, who don't always find traditional workout routines appealing.
Pavolko is founder of the high school's DDR Club, whose members meet once a week to play the interactive dance game.
"I first saw it two years ago, when I visited an arcade in Ohio," he said.
Pavolko obtained his own copy of the game, which can be hooked up through gaming systems such as Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox or Nintendo's GameCube. Instead of pushing buttons or working a joystick, players choose a tune and dance on a floor pad, following arrows that scroll down the screen.
The pad lets them track their success in following the on-screen directions, moving faster and following more complex patterns as the game advances from a beginners level to "dance master mode."
Pavolko introduced the game to his fellow students two years ago, during a demonstration speech he was required to give in teacher Jane Mastro's 10th-grade English class. While he explained how the game works, he showed off his form.
"I was fascinated by his abilities, and by how fun and athletic the game is," Mastro said.
The combination of student interest and the game's obvious fitness benefits led her to serve as adviser for the the DDR Club, which now meets during a morning activity period. Mastro estimates that more than 50 students in grades 9 through 12 have participated at various times.
A beginners meeting alternates weeks with a gathering for more advanced dancers.
The high participation rate speaks to the activity's appeal and popularity with teens. Senior Jonathan Phillippi said he first played the game at Pavolko's house "and I just got hooked."
The appeal lies mostly in the music, he said.
Phillippi estimates he plays two or three times a week, for 30 minutes to an hour at a time -- an activity level that could have a measurable effect on fitness.
"The first summer I did it, I lost 14 pounds," Pavolko said.
Skultety said she's in better shape since she started playing regularly. "It takes the pressure off of working out," she said. "It makes it fun."
And this is one activity where boys and girls can compete on "equal footing," she added. "I'm one of the better ones, and I'm the only girl in the (advanced) club."
On occasion, Homer-Center's physical education teachers have even allowed the game to be incorporated into class as a cardio workout.
Club members said the music, plus the emphasis on playing a game and having a good time, all contribute to DDR's appeal. Engaging in aerobic exercise and improving overall fitness aren't what brings them to meetings.
"Their primary goal is fun," Mastro agreed, "but as they get better, you cannot deny how much energy they expend."
Rhonda Dennae, fitness director at the Indiana County YMCA, said she has watched teens competing at DDR in local malls.
"I'm open for anything that keeps kids interested," she said. "With this obesity epidemic going on in kids, it's a step in the right direction."
According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in five American children age 6 to 19 is overweight -- and the number is growing. Those extra pounds, combined with an inactive lifestyle, put an increasing number of teens at risk for serious health problems.
An address by the U.S. Surgeon General, delivered in December 2005, included a call to "build physical activity into regular routines and playtime for children and their families" and "ensure that adults get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week."
Children, the Surgeon General said, "should aim for at least 60 minutes" of vigorous activity each day.
Teens who play fast-moving games such as DDR should treat each session like a workout, Dennae said.
"With any activity, there has to be a gradual warm-up, and they need to be aware of their heart rate," she explained. If a teen is overweight or not used to exercise, his heart rate could rise too quickly.
Breathing is a good indication of how hard the heart is working, Dennae said. "You should always be able to carry on a conversation without shortness of breath.
"Once kids understand the basics of what they're doing and why they're doing it, then any activity that keeps them interested and moving is great," she added.
Exercise physiologist Amanda Augustine, of Indiana Regional Medical Center, agrees that any physical activity is a step in the right direction. Increasingly, the health of teens and preteens is being affected not just by obesity, but by a host of ailments linked to a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle.
"When I was in college and starting in the field, there was no such thing as Type 2 diabetes in children," she said. "We've just begun to see that in the last seven to eight years.
"We're also seeing risk factors for heart disease, like high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, in kids as young as 12 and 13 years old."
In response to these concerns, Augustine said, studies are being conducted to find ways to motivate youngsters to exercise and eat properly. One is looking at games like DDR.
The West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency, which provides health insurance for 215,000 state employees, teachers and their families, is sponsoring a two-year pilot research project to study the effects of the game in reducing the risks of heart disease, obesity and other health problems in children.
A screening of more than 6,000 children in the state revealed that almost 43 percent had risk factors for heart disease and more that 25 percent were obese.
Participating children are given a DDR game, a game pad and a pedometer. They are asked to play the game for a prescribed amount of time and to keep an exercise log.
Researcher Emily S. Murphy, at the University of West Virginia's Human Performance Lab, is among those tracking results from the Games for Health Pilot Project. Final figures are not available yet, but Murphy reported some positive findings.
"We are definitely seeing health benefits in the study," she said. "Kids are definitely complying with the study requirements."
The Games for Health study requires participants to play DDR a minimum of five times a week for 30 minutes at a time. Some kids receive "coaching" calls if they appear to be doing less, Murphy said, but "a lot of our kids are actually doing it every day."
And it's a positive sign that some study participants described as "morbidly obese" have reached a plateau, rather than continuing to gain weight, she added.
Members of Homer-Center's DDR Club have no plans to promote the game as exercise or to measure their fitness levels, but as the game's popularity grows, so do opportunities to play. Some group members have taken part in DDR contests sponsored by various colleges or stores at local malls.
Club members have played at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and joined contests at Indiana Mall. They generally travel together, but not as a group formally sponsored by the school.
Families are getting in on the game, as well. D.J. Hill, of Indiana, manager of the Electronics Boutique store at Indiana Mall, said interactive games like DDR are "big sellers," with buyers ranging from 10 years old to adults.
"Parents buy it for themselves because they've seen their kids doing it and think it would be fun," he said.
The game even contains a "workout mode," he explained. And it's not the only one on the market. Pump It Up, by MadCatz, is a similar rhythm game, and Sony's Eye Toy Kinetic game is specifically designed as an exercise and fitness program.
Mastro said her students inspired her to use DDR as part of her own fitness regimen.
"It's my winter walking routine," she said. "I do the beginner level and use the 'endless mode,' which plays songs without stopping. I do it for 40 minutes, and the time just goes by so fast."
