Name: DailyFeats
Big Idea: DailyFeats offers a way for people to get motivated to achieve their personal goals.
Why It’s Working: By incorporating a positive rewards system and tailored programs that help people take small steps toward success, DailyFeats boosts confidence for users and motivates them to achieve their dreams. Users can either cash in their points for swag or donate to the non-profit of their choice.
via Mashable
HealthRally, a new San Francisco startup, allows you to reach personal wellness goals by getting friends and family to pledge cash to support you.
via Gigaom
Nike is engaging its fans to build a motivational community via an engaging online and in-store campaign. The ‘Make It Count’ campaign urges the public to share personal pledges on Twitter via the hashtag #makeitcount.
The program uses web cameras and the Wii balance board to customize rehabilitation exercises and monitor progress more closely than previously possible. The system works with the WeHab software, where the data is logged and analyzed. At home, the patient is able to perform balance therapy with real- time feedback from the physical therapist via video chat, helping keep patients engaged with their rehab.
A detailed new study of U.S. physical activity patterns shows that men who work full-time — whether their jobs are active or sedentary— end up getting more exercise than healthy working-age men without a job.
They show that men or women who work in active jobs do more physical activity on weekdays than men or women working in sedentary jobs. That’s perhaps not surprising, but the NIH researchers suggest that it still matters because of an ongoing shift in the economy toward sedentary work.
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/07/15/why-working-men-but-not-women-get-more-exercise/#ixzz1SlKjnfsK
(via TIME Healthland)
The study noted four strategies that were associated with weight maintenance but not loss:
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/07/06/youve-lost-weight-now-how-do-you-keep-it-off/#ixzz1SkXkq725
A new fitness concept developed by two Harvard economics students, Yifan Zhang and Geoff Oberhofer, leans heavily on behavioral economics to motivate its members to workout. The concept, Gym-Pact, employs what Zhang calls “motivational fees” – members pay more money when they do not exercise.
Ginger may help ease pain and soreness, but only a day or more after a workout.
Markula, P. (2001). “Beyond the Perfect Body” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 25(2):158-179 doi: 10/1177/0193723501252004
Abstract
This article examines how fitness magazines address women’s body image distortion (BID). The discussion derives primarily from three articles published in Self, Shape,and The New Weekly. The author briefly outlines how these magazines characterize BID as a common illness and how they advise their readers to improve their “out of whack” body image. From a Foucauldian feminist perspective, the author analyzes why the magazines devote space to counseling women with body image problems but continue to publish images of a narrowly defined body ideal that, as the magazines themselves establish, is one of the major causes for BID. To locate the magazine discourse on BID within a larger societal context, the author continues with a critical look at how the medical discourse treats this condition. The article concludes by drawing a parallel between the medical understanding of health as individual women’s responsibility and the magazines’ notion of image consumption as individual readers’ responsibility.
Lee, Y. H. & Park, I (2010). “Happiness and Physical Activity in Special Populations: Evidence From Korean Survey Data” Journal of Sports Economics 11(2): 136-156. doi: 10.1177/1527002510363099
Abstract
This article contributes to the literature on happiness by focusing on the effects of physical activity or sport participation on happiness or life satisfaction in a special population. Using survey data collected by the Korean Sports Association for the Disabled, all respondents were legally disabled. This study presents empirical evidence of positive ‘‘nonhealth effects’’ of physical activity on life satisfaction. Approximately a one-level jump in physical activity in the six-level score provided the same improvement in life satisfaction as one-quarter of the effect of the employment status change from unemployed to employed. Additionally, the empirical finding that the level of disability was insignificant in determining subjective well-being is consistent with a threshold argument. The authors’ empirical results also support there being no adaptation to disability, in contrast to findings in the psychology literature.
In a new study, girls who walked to school did better on tests than girls who got there by car. But lazy students take heart: caffeine and sugar also up test scores.
Read more: http://jezebel.com/5710175/walking-makes-you-smarter—but-so-does-sugar#ixzz17xc4AnWh
List of medical apps by Harvard Health Letter
A&D WeighingAccu-measure FitnessBodyBugg BodyMediaBodyTraceDailyBurnFatSecretFitBitFitDayGreenGooseI Move YouLimeadeLiveStrongLose It!MapMyRunMio heart rate monitor/watchMy Mile MarkerNextFitNike+OmronPhilips DirectLifeRunKeeperRunMonsterRunning AheadRunning TrackerSkimbleSparkPeopleSportsTrackerThe Crescendo ProjectTraineoWalkingSpreeWithingsYouw8
Background: Physical activity is associated with reduced risks of many chronic diseases. Data collected on physical activity in large epidemiological studies is often based on paper questionnaires. The validity of these questionnaires is debated, and more effective methods are needed.
Objective: This study evaluates repeated measures of physical activity level (PAL) and the feasibility of using a Java-based questionnaire downloaded onto cell phones for collection of such data. The data obtained were compared with reference estimates based on the doubly labeled water method and indirect calorimetry (PALref).
Method: Using a Java-based cell phone application, 22 women reported their physical activity based on two short questions answered daily over a 14-day period (PALcell). Results were compared with reference data obtained from the doubly labeled water method and indirect calorimetry (PALref). Results were also compared against physical activity levels assessed by two regular paper questionnaires completed by women at the end of the 14-day period (PALquest1 and PALquest2). PALcell, PALquest1, and PALquest2 were compared with PALref using the Bland and Altman procedure.
Results: The mean difference between PALcell and PALref was small (0.014) with narrow limits of agreement (2SD = 0.30). Compared with PALref, the mean difference was also small for PALquest1 and PALquest2 (0.004 and 0.07, respectively); however, the limits of agreement were wider (PALquest1, 2SD = 0.50 and PALquest2, 2SD = 0.90). The test for trend was statistically significant for PALquest1 (slope of regression line = 0.79, P = .04) as well as for PALquest2(slope of regression line = 1.58, P < .001) when compared with PALref.
Conclusion: A Java-based physical activity questionnaire administered daily using cell phones produced PAL estimates that agreed well with PAL reference values. Furthermore, the limits of agreement between PAL obtained using cell phones, and reference values were narrower than for corresponding estimates obtained using paper questionnaires. Java-based questionnaires downloaded onto cell phones may be a feasible and cost-effective method of data collection for large-scale prospective studies of physical activity.
(J Med Internet Res 2010;12(1):e2)
doi:10.2196/jmir.1298
via JMIR
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