Authors:
Cíntia França
1
;
2
;
Hildegardo Noronha
2
;
Eva Freitas
2
;
Pedro Campos
2
;
3
;
Rui T. Ornelas
4
;
1
and
Élvio Gouveia
4
;
2
;
1
;
5
Affiliations:
1
Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Madeira, Funchal, Portugal
;
2
LARSYS, Interactive Technologies Institute, Funchal, Portugal
;
3
WoW!Systems Informática Lda, Funchal, Portugal
;
4
CIPER, Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
;
5
Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Carouge, Switzerland
Keyword(s):
Aging, Physical Activity, Heart Rate, User Tests.
Abstract:
Aging is associated with decreased physical fitness components, such as strength, power, cardiorespiratory fitness, and balance, resulting in physical limitations on functional activities of daily living. The increasing population of older adults calls for innovative strategies to support functional health, particularly through exercise. This study has two main objectives: (1) to introduce a custom-designed virtual reality (VR) exergame prototype, FitFest, developed to deliver physical activity (PA) sessions for older adults, and (2) to present the results of a pilot study assessing physical and physiological responses during gameplay. Seven older adults (mean age 67.0±3.8 years) participated in 18 user testing sessions involving two VR exergames—Wine Fest and Flower Fest. Each session was monitored for PA intensity and heart rate (HR). The participants spent most of their time in sedentary behavior (56.5±20.4%), followed by light PA (42.1±19.3%), averaging 436.7 steps and a heart ra
te of 92.1 bpm per session. Although the differences were not statistically significant, Wine Fest led to lower sedentary behavior, higher light PA levels, and more total steps than Flower Fest. The findings suggest that the system can potentially promote light PA among older adults, emerging as a complementary tool to traditional PA sessions.
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