"You have to exercise in order to stay healthy!"
Have you ever been advised by friends, relatives or doctors? But frankly, how many of you will take this statement seriously and actually exercise regularly?
Now, there is a way to help you exercise on a regular basis!
A study of sedentary adults of age 55 and above revealed that telephone calls, whether from a person or a computer, may help motivate people to get some exercise. The study was published in the journal Health Psychology and was conducted by researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine in California.
218 healthy but sedentary adults were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups:
Group 1 - received periodic phone calls from a health counsellor to check on their exercise progress.
Have you ever been advised by friends, relatives or doctors? But frankly, how many of you will take this statement seriously and actually exercise regularly?
Now, there is a way to help you exercise on a regular basis!
A study of sedentary adults of age 55 and above revealed that telephone calls, whether from a person or a computer, may help motivate people to get some exercise. The study was published in the journal Health Psychology and was conducted by researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine in California.
218 healthy but sedentary adults were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups:
Group 1 - received periodic phone calls from a health counsellor to check on their exercise progress.
Group 2 - received similar calls from an automated phone system.
Group 3 - was a 'control' group that was offered weekly health education classes.
Participants in both group 1 and 2 first met with a health educator who helped them devise an exercise plan. They then received phone calls to monitor their progress and to assist them overcome any obstacles to stay active. The automated system used in group 2 was designed to be as 'human-friendly' as possible. Each study participant was called by name, and the system asked questions about exercise progress for participants to respond by phone keypad.
The initial aim of the study was to get people exercising for 150 minutes per week (or 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week). And what the researchers got after one year were:
- people in group 1 managed to exercise an average of 178 minutes per week.
- people in group 2 exercised an average of 157 minutes per week.
The results were very encouraging and suggested that automated phone systems might offer a more cost-efficient way to reach sedentary Americans than systems that rely on human callers. Organizations capable of running such phone-based programs include local colleges, health insurance companies, health clinics, American Heart Association, etc.
If people can have a good habit of exercising at least 150 minutes a week, together with adopting healthy diet, then it will definitely help in preventing heart disease and other related medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol level, etc.
Group 3 - was a 'control' group that was offered weekly health education classes.
Participants in both group 1 and 2 first met with a health educator who helped them devise an exercise plan. They then received phone calls to monitor their progress and to assist them overcome any obstacles to stay active. The automated system used in group 2 was designed to be as 'human-friendly' as possible. Each study participant was called by name, and the system asked questions about exercise progress for participants to respond by phone keypad.
The initial aim of the study was to get people exercising for 150 minutes per week (or 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week). And what the researchers got after one year were:
- people in group 1 managed to exercise an average of 178 minutes per week.
- people in group 2 exercised an average of 157 minutes per week.
The results were very encouraging and suggested that automated phone systems might offer a more cost-efficient way to reach sedentary Americans than systems that rely on human callers. Organizations capable of running such phone-based programs include local colleges, health insurance companies, health clinics, American Heart Association, etc.
If people can have a good habit of exercising at least 150 minutes a week, together with adopting healthy diet, then it will definitely help in preventing heart disease and other related medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol level, etc.
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