According to psychologist David de Buisonger of Leiden University in the Netherlands, the combined “carrot and stick” strategy works best as motivation to lose weight and exercise. It involves losing money if there is no result, and doubling it if there is success. In this respect reported on the university’s website – Leiden University.
Some health insurance providers use financial incentives to encourage customers to exercise more, the psychologist said. This method of creating motivation involves the presence of a “carrot”. However, few people continue their new behavior patterns (physical activity and healthy eating) after receiving rewards.
On the other hand, according to the expert, the “stick” method based on financial risks (loss of a certain amount of money previously invested in case of failure) can negatively affect the health of people with cardiovascular diseases or who are overly preoccupied with money.
David de Buisonger explained that the most effective strategy would be the combined strategy. This became clear during an experiment in which 137 people participated. The psychologist created a mobile app for step counting and challenged people to take a certain number of steps each day, provided they invested financial resources to participate. Moreover, in case of successful weight loss, the amount deposited by the participant was doubled (money was “burned” if the participant violated the step count condition).
The result of this experiment was that almost all participants started taking an average of 60% more steps. The psychologist added that such plans in health apps are much more common in the United States. De Buisonger analyzed the six-week program of the StepBet trading application, in which more than 70 thousand people participated. They paid $40 upfront, which they could return along with the bonus at the end of the trial. Almost three-quarters of the participants successfully completed the step counting requirement and received an award.
Previously recognizedHow does lemon water affect weight loss?
What are you thinking?
Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.