14 DAY TRIAL // Financial incentives could prove surprisingly effective in terms of increasing the amount of exercise adults do on a weekly basis, a new study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine argues.
What's more, it appears that, in the case of some people, merely $5 (€3.74) per week would be more than enough to make exercise much more appealing.
Researcher Marc Mitchell, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, says that, after interviewing some 1,500 volunteers, he found that people prefer not to exercise because, on the short term, all they experience is discomfort.
Thus, despite being well aware of the fact that, on the longer run, exercise can prove highly beneficial to their overall health condition, they cannot help but opt for immediate satisfaction instead.
“The time commitment and discomfort of exercise prevents many adults from starting regular exercise. For those who do start, most drop out within six months,” Marc Mitchell explains, as cited by EurekAlert.
“People's actions tend to serve their immediate self-interest at the expense of long-term wellbeing. This is often the case for exercise, where the costs are experienced in the present and the benefits are delayed. Because of this, many adults postpone exercise,” the researcher goes on to say.
Marc Mitchell theorizes that, should people be offered financial incentives, it would not take long for them to link regular exercise with short-term satisfaction.
Therefore, they would be more likely to find a suitable fitness routine and stick to it for extended periods.
The researcher argues that, all things considered, this would also ease the strain on a country's health system, seeing how few people would end up needing medical attention as a result of their leading a not-so-healthy life.
Besides, it is possible that, in time, people would grow fond of exercising and not give it up even if financial incentives were no longer offered.
“Our research suggests that providing incentives in the short-term increases the amount of exercise people do – there is also potential to drive long-term change, but that will need to be studied further.”
“The sustained behavior change we are seeking could save our health system millions by preventing repeat heart events,” Marc Mitchell argues.