Wearable fitness tech plus cash are a great combination for fitness

It is very hard to get motivate to exercise since that is something that is so boring. Imagine, you are going to do it regularly and you aren’t going to get anything except your physical fitness. The problem with that is that it takes too long to get the results you wanted. That is the reason why most people fail.

What if there is an incentive?

That would be great as you would not only develop your body, but you are going to get something out of it. It is like hitting two birds at one stone and who could have pass that opportunity. Certainly, someone who isn’t in their right mind. An incentive such as cash would be a great reward for someone wanting to gain a great body.

Impossible?

No one in their right mind would give you cash while exercising. Well, that truth is that it have something to do with a study. The participants are quite lucky since that opportunity is something that is hard to come by. A new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association said the trackers — when paired with a little cold, hard cash — might just give people that push to start a regular exercise routine.

While most people, meditation and stress reduction program may be as effective as structured exercise programs for increasing physical activity. These guys gets the opportunity of a lifetime when they participated in a study.

The Study

The 10,000-step goal adds up to 5 miles each day, arbitrarily, but it also approximates the 30 minutes of daily exercise recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine.

The total recommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week is challenging for many people, especially those with known heart disease — the leading cause of death in the U.S.

Physical activity is the key to reducing the occurrence of stroke and other diseases. However, the sad thing is that most people won’t do it simply because they get bored at what they are doing. They need something that would motivate them to do it regularly.

Participation in programs such as cardiac rehab, targeted to help those with heart conditions, is “extremely low for various reasons including patient motivation and access to exercise facilities,” Dr. Neel Chokshi, medical director of the Penn Sports Cardiology and Fitness Program and assistant professor of Clinical Medicine in Cardiology, told ABC News.

Fortunately, there was a team of researchers that did it and they have found out that it is a good motivation for those not wanting to exercise.

Wearable fitness devices can track daily steps, but alone might not be enough to change exercise behavior.

The researchers found out that fitness device and money is the key to motivate most people to exercise. Imagine, you are going to get some cash simply by just exercising. Surely, no one in their right mind would pass out this opportunity. Chokshi and his colleagues decided to test this approach through a clinical trial.

The study enrolled 105 patients into a home-based trial, using the Misfit Shine wearable device. For 24 weeks, they offered payment up front, into an “account,” and then took money away based on whether daily step goals were reached.

All participants were given the device and a two-week startup period to establish baseline step counts and $50 just for completing enrollment and the trial.

The participants were randomized into a control group — the members of which received only the device — and an intervention group, which also got money. In the intervention group, participants were given personalized step goals with daily feedback on their performance and got paid a small amount to a virtual account — $14 per week for 16 weeks, or $224 total. Each day the step goal was missed, $2 was taken back.

The 24-week trial had two phases: The 16-week intervention phase ramped-up incentives and then asked people to maintain the workout –- then they had an eight-week follow-up phase. During the “ramp-up incentive” phase, daily step goals increased from the baseline by 15 percent each week with a maximum goal of 10,000 steps per day. During the eight-week follow-up phase they weren’t paid.

You know what happened when the people stop getting money from exercising? They don’t stop exercising as it become part of their regular routine.

During the maintenance phase, those who got the money increased their physical activity by 1,368 steps per day more than those just wearing a device. And surprisingly, that held up during the follow-up period. Even without money, people in the intervention group still had an increase of 1,154 steps per day more than patients in the control group.

“Framing rewards as a loss — a technique from behavioral economics — led to a meaningful difference in behavior,” said Dr. Mitesh Patel, an assistant professor of Medicine and Health Care Management, and director of the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit. “During the 6-month trial, the average patient in the intervention arm had step counts that totaled about 100 miles more than the average patient in control.”

Researchers noted that wearable fitness track gadget wont’ be enough to motivate people to get going with their physical activity. They still need some motivation and money would be that motivation.

They suggested that more studies need to be done to evaluate whether the incentives work over a long period of time and if the financial incentives are maintainable. Studies of different groups, time periods or other differing designs could help isolate the effects of the financial incentives and personalized feedback.

Source: Physical Advisor, ABC News