Recently nearly $2 million in grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation were awarded to nine research teams working on strengthening the evidence that playing games - video games that is - is good for your health.

The awards, which come from the Foundation's Health Games Research national program based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will be used to research how gaming supports the development and use of digital interactive games to improve players' health.

The nine research teams chosen from 185 have each been awarded between $100,000 and $300,000 to lead one- to two-year studies. Some of the topics will include how dance pad games may help Parkinson's patients reduce the risk of falling and whether or not Nintendo's Wii can actually lower a player's body mass index. The research program will be located in California, Washington D.C., Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.

Sound off: Do you think video games can improve your overall health? If you could lose weight playing Wii, would you start gaming?