London, Feb 19 (Inditop.com) Highlighting emotional benefits of exercise is a much better way of boosting physical activity than focusing on traditional health benefits, says a new study.
Reema Sirriyeh, from the University of Leeds who conducted the study with associates, said: “There is evidence that people who believe that physical activity is enjoyable and fun are more likely to engage in sports and exercise.”
“We investigated whether highlighting the emotional benefits of sport and exercise to young people increased their levels of physical activity, more than highlighting the physical health benefits,” said Reema.
Participants numbering 128 aged between 16 and 19 years took part in the study; recruited from the sixth forms of four schools in West Yorkshire.
The teenagers all received a daily text message at 4 p.m. for a period of two weeks. Some received text messages that highlighted either the emotional benefits of exercise – such as ‘Physical activity can make you feel cheerful. What activity will you do today?’
A second group received texts that highlighted the physical benefits, such as – ‘Physical activity can keep your heart healthy. What activity will you do today?’ and a further group received text messages that were a combination of the two.
The participants recorded their levels of physical activity using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), which measured the time they spent on moderate and vigorous exercise.
Analysis of the results found that the physical activity levels of all 128 participants increased after the two-week intervention by an average 31.5 minutes of moderate activity a week.
The largest increase in physical activity was seen for inactive teenagers who received the text messages that highlighted the emotional benefits of exercise. This was equivalent to 120 more minutes of moderate exercise.
Reema continued: “Statistics from the British Heart Foundation show that from the age of 16, girls’ levels of physical activity begin to decrease.”
“Our study shows that for inactive teenagers, emphasising the emotional benefits of exercise may be a more effective way to encourage exercise than highlighting traditional health benefits,” said Reema.
These findings were published online in the British Journal of Health Psychology.
