Bribery Hack Can Boost Your Health

Changing your lifestyle is the best way to improve your health.

But no one said it was easy.

Old habits die hard, right?

This is especially the case when it comes to exercise. Sometimes, you just need a little extra motivation to get going.

Well, researchers have found an unconventional way to get people to exercise regularly.

And it could work for you, too.

Sometimes, the potential end result (weight loss, reduced symptoms, lower disease risks) simply isn’t enough motivation to overcome a lifetime of bad habits.

Fortunately, researchers tapped into something that might work instead.

The study included about 1,000 adults with either clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or a high risk for cardiovascular disease.

After establishing each volunteer’s average daily step count, they set a goal to increase everyone’s count by 1,500 steps.

The participants were then divided into four exercise groups…

• Group one was the control group, whose members were texted daily reminders to get moving.
• The second group was a “gamification” group, which involved playing a game in which points were awarded—and progress achieved—by meeting their step goals.
• Then there was the financial incentive group, which earned or lost money based on completing their step goals.
• The fourth group was a combination of game + financial incentives.

I’m sure you know where this is going…

After 12 months, the groups that added the most steps were the game group and financial incentive group, with an average increase in exercise of about 2,000 steps daily.

However, the combined game + financial incentive group improved the most overall, increasing their efforts by about 2,300 steps daily.

And after the program ended, the game + money group also had the best sustained increase in exercise levels.

The increases these participants achieved would correlate to a six percent lower risk of death from any cause and a 10 percent lower risk of heart attack or stroke.

There’s nothing wrong with harnessing your competitive side to achieve your health goals.

And there’s nothing wrong with working toward financial incentives, either.

Think of what motivates you—and use that to achieve your best possible outcome.

P.S. The BEST exercise for a healthier heart.

SOURCE:

“Behavioral Economic Approaches to Increase Physical Activity Among Patients With Elevated Risk for Cardiovascular Disease (BE ACTIVE),” ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT03911141, Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania