Putting fear of death into people 'is best way to make them exercise'

Putting the fear of death into people could be the best way to get them to exercise, study claims

• Warnings of death and illness were the best at encouraging people to get/stay fit
• The morbid messages outperformed others about obesity, and cost to society  
• Study author says findings could help improve fitness apps’ motivational power

Putting the fear of death into people could be the best way to get them to exercise, according to a study.

Researchers measured people’s motivation to exercise after reading five different messages.

Warnings about illness and even death from a lack of physical activity were the best performers, results showed.

The morbid messages beat similar warnings about getting fat, social stigma from being unfit, or the cost of medical treatment to taxpayers.

This graph shows that messages warning of illness and death from a lack of physical activity were the best performers for motivating both men and women to exercise. The cross represents a neutral reaction to the messages

Study author Dr Kiemute Oyibo, from the University of Waterloo in Canada, said the findings will help improve exercise-related communication for fitness apps.

‘The findings provide a basis for fitness app designers to leverage more of illness- and death-related health messages as a persuasive technique to motivate behavior change,’ he said.  

In the study, 669 people were asked to rate five messages on how they encouraged them to exercise with a fitness app, doing things like push-ups and squats.

These messages were based on five different categories, financial, obesity, deaths, illness and social stigma.

The author of the new study set out to find if negative messages about exercise could help motivate people to keep fit

What were the five messages shown to participants? 

The messages people were asked to rate out of seven. 

One meaning: Does not motivate me to start or continue exercising

Seven meaning: Completely motivates me to start or continue exercising 

Financial cost-related: ‘Physical inactivity costs Canadian tax payers $6.8 billion a year’ (Source: CBCNews).

Obesity-related: One in four Canadian adults has clinical obesity (Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information). 

Death-related: ‘Six per cent of the world’s death is caused by physical inactivity’ (Source: World Health Organization). 

Illness-related: ‘Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness’ (Source: Edward Stanley).

Social stigma-related: ‘The stigma against people with obesity is comparable to that of racial discrimination’ (Source: Canadian Obesity Network).

In the financial message, study participants were informed of the $6.8billion a year (£3.99billion) cost of a lack of physical activity to Canadian taxpayers.

For obesity, participants were informed that one in four Canadians are classified as clinically obese. 

In deaths, people were told about a World Health Organization (WHO) statistic that ‘six per cent of the world’s death is caused by physical inactivity’.  

For the illness, study participants were given a quote from British statesman Edward Stanley the 15th Earl of Derby: ‘Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.’

And for social stigma, volunteers were asked to rate the Canadian Obesity Network’s statement: ‘The stigma against people with obesity is comparable to that of racial discrimination.’

Participants were asked to rate the messages from one to seven, with one meaning the message ‘doesn’t motivate me to start/continue exercising’ and seven meaning ‘completely motivates me to start/continue exercising’. 

When rated it was clear that the messages about illness and obesity were the top performers, scoring an average 4.8 and 4.69.

In comparison, the messages about finance scored 3.7, obesity 3.5, and stigma the lowest of all at 3.48.

Dr Oyibo also looked at the role of gender in how messages were interpreted and observed that both genders were more likely to be motivated to exercise by illness and death toned messages. 

He added that future studies should consider other demographic characteristics such as age, culture, race, and education, to explore if these factors affected the effectiveness of these messages.

In the UK physical inactivity is estimated to cost the NHS £1billion per year, with six in 10 adults either overweight or obese.

Costs are much higher in the US, with sedentary lifestyles estimated to cost the American health care system $117billion per year (nearly £85billion). 

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 42 per cent of the US adult population is obese, and nine per cent severely obese. 

HOW MUCH EXERCISE YOU NEED

To stay healthy, adults aged 19 to 64 should try to be active daily and should do:

• at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity such as cycling or brisk walking every week and

• strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

Or:

• 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity such as running or a game of singles tennis every week and

• strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

Or:

• a mix of moderate and vigorous aerobic activity every week – for example, 2 x 30-minute runs plus 30 minutes of brisk walking equates to 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity and

• strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

A good rule is that 1 minute of vigorous activity provides the same health benefits as 2 minutes of moderate activity.

One way to do your recommended 150 minutes of weekly physical activity is to do 30 minutes on 5 days every week.

All adults should also break up long periods of sitting with light activity.

Source: NHS 

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