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A rewards program that offers a heavily subsidized Apple Watch to encourage exercise is to persuade people to stand up and become active.
Health insurance company Vitality said its research – which it described as the largest behavioral study of behavior based on verified data – showed that its incentive system, combined with Apple's smartwatch, could sustainably improve the level of physical activity.
Under the agreement with the insurer, UK members pay an initial fee of £ 99, with the balance of the cost of supervision being spread over 24 monthly payments of £ 12.50. But by reaching certain goals for physical activity, members can reduce the cost of monthly payments, their most energetic users can not pay anything at all.
The report found a 34% average increase in the user activity level of the Vitality reward program with the Apple Watch, compared to those using only the other benefits of the company, which offer the Kingdom One free ticket for coffee or cinema to achieve certain business goals.
The basic idea is that prevention is better than cure. Offering people a good deal on a smart watch that then encourages them to exercise can reduce their need for long-term medical treatment, which means a saving for the business and a better health for the future. # 39; individual. "We monetize the people who make the right decisions," said Adrian Gore, founder of Vitality.
The research found an increase in activity – 4.8 days of additional activity per month – which Vitality estimates will translate into two more years of life. The study looked at the behaviors of more than 400,000 people in the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa, of whom about 90,000 subscribed to the Apple Watch offer. While "at-risk" participants with a high body mbad index were less likely to benefit from the benefit, they showed a greater improvement in activity than other groups.
It seems that this is the reward structure that could be winning here, as much as the Apple hardware, a combination of an "incentive program to gain" – as a free coffee to achieve a goal. exercise, and a "loss incentive program" – as you charge for the Apple Watch if you do not reach your goal of exercise. " two components mutually reinforce each other and create an ecosystem of behavioral change, "says the report.
More and more of us are using portable devices, whether to follow our steps or to measure a restful sleep. According to the research organization YouGov, nearly one in five has a portable device, and one in 10 uses them actively. But it is still unlikely that the NHS will distribute them in the near future, as it is not entirely clear that the use of wearable devices and trackers will improve the health of users.
For the moment, most people who use health monitoring tend to be younger and healthier. The people who are most concerned about the health service are the elderly, in poor health, who could benefit more from the exercise.
In many ways, the report's most interesting data does not relate to the Apple Watch itself but the combination of carrot and stick that can encourage people to be more active, which could possibly help organizations to create programs that make more people active.
"What we can say is that the way the incentive was built, which involved a very specific technology [in a loss-framed incentive], was badociated with increased physical activity, "said Hans Pung, president of RAND Europe, who conducted the research.
If it is possible to design a program aimed at the whole population, which rewards it for its physical activity, but penalizes it in one way or another. it does not, can be a challenge for health officials and politicians.
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