"A lot of the things we've been trying to do with challenges is bring back a sense of childlike wonder," she says – kind of like what you get when you're exploring a video game world for the first time. In response, the participants share photos and comments to the Facebook post with updates of what they've discovered along their walks. For example, she asks the women to take a photo of something on their walk that looks like a book cover - or mark off as many different kinds of trees as possible from a checklist she shares in advance. To keep the participants on their toes, she posts fun challenges on the page. As part of her research, she created a Facebook page to help motivate older women in Galveston, Texas, to go for daily walks. Lyons tries to mimic these characteristics in her own fitness game designs. Add an element of whimsyĮlizabeth Lyons of the University of Texas Medical Branch says some people love video games because there's a lot of unpredictability and surprise. Shots - Health News From Couch Potato To Fitness Buff: How I Learned To Love Exercise 4. The game tracks your scores and progression against your friends on a leaderboard.
Players battle enemies by jogging in place and pushing and pulling a ring-shaped controller to battle the game's enemies. Cigna, for example, has a fitness app that connects employees together to compete against other teams.Īnd don't forget fitness video games! In addition to Pump It Up, you can also try Nintendo's Ring Fit Adventure, a game that combines role-playing game elements with fitness. And many companies offer wellness challenges for its employees through its health insurance providers. The app Zwift, for example, allows you race against others around a virtual world using your own bike and treadmill (with the purchase of sensors and other equipment to track data). If you're seeking a similar motivation, look into fitness programs that encourage friendly competition. The group asked to compete against other employees ended up walking more steps than any other group in the study. In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2019, Patel and a team of researchers challenged 602 overweight and obese employees from a single company to participate in a step-tracking challenge. Research suggests that adding an element of competition to your exercise routine can actually help you work out. During the pandemic, Comer and her family had a competition from their respective homes across several states to see who could rack up the most points on some of the exercise games on their VR headsets, "as a motivator for us to exercise and stay connected," she says.
Sarah Comer demonstrates the game Beat Saber using a virtual reality headset in Washington, D.C.
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