[The Epoch Times, November 11, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Minru Lai, Taipei, Taiwan) It is well known that developing a habit of exercise can bring about health, but it may not be possible to do so. Experts said that it is human nature to be content with the status quo, and how to “change behavior” is the key to developing sports habits, and the enthusiasm of sports fans to support the team may be an opportunity to develop sports habits. Research has shown that it does increase physical activity.
Liao Yong, a distinguished professor at National Taiwan Normal University, said that the key is how to change “people’s behavior”, and the key reason for how to make people who have never exercised to start exercising is also related to human nature “maintaining the status quo”. People tend to be content with the status quo and do things according to routine, so it is more difficult to change. For example, for patients undergoing cardiac bypass surgery, doctors will remind patients to adjust their diet and living habits after surgery. In the end, there is still only one patient. The living habits of adult patients have changed.
People also measure interests and change their behavior. Liao Yong said that in terms of fitness, there is no immediate effect, and it takes several months to see the results, but people easily give up exercising during the process, and some people turn to medical beauty and medicine, because these activities are relatively easy and can also be See immediate results.
Can people’s hobby of sports events increase their motivation to exercise? Liao Yong said that this is an interesting topic. In the past, everyone liked to watch the Olympics and other events, but there is still a huge gap between “seeing” and “doing”, and compared with athletes doing high-intensity sports, spectators may be sitting Watching at home and sometimes even unhealthy eating behaviors, so watching sports events may also indirectly have health problems.
Liao Yong said that other international studies have shown that although many local residents of the Olympic host country watch the Olympic events, they still cannot increase their overall physical activity. From a behavioral observation, the fanaticism of sports fans to support the team may be a potential opportunity to develop a sports habit. In addition, all ages and ethnic groups like games and competition, and the “gamification” element may also be a way to increase the success rate of behavior change.
Liao Yong shared that he recently cooperated with the University of Tokyo in Japan on a study aimed at Japanese professional baseball fans. Using the concept of mobile phone step counting, he developed the “Japanese Professional Baseball Pacific League Pedometer (Pa-League Walk)” application. During the nine months of the professional baseball season, on the day of the game between the baseball players of the two teams, the players also have a step-counting game simultaneously.
Liao Yong said that after retrieving the official Twitter messages, it was found that there were Japanese baseball fans who left a message, “I helped the team take 1,200 more steps today.” “It’s really fun,” said Liao Yong, who said the fans were happy to walk 1,200 steps that day, not to improve their own health. In addition, the app is also designed to randomly draw player cards for every 10,000 steps taken. After the launch of this function, those who reach 10,000 steps will instantly increase by 30%, and the number of downloads of the app will increase day by day until the end of the Japanese professional baseball season.
The results of the study show that regardless of gender, age, education level, income and other factors, those who use this app can increase their activity levels. After follow-up statistics, 25% of them were originally “unintentional” exercise objects, and another 23%. Is the “intentional period” of the people.
Liao Yong told The Epoch Times that people’s desire to exercise is related to their motivation. If they can find something they like or a group with a sense of belonging, their motivation will be enhanced. For example, baseball fans, because they like baseball, want the team to win, not lose. For other fans, it’s kind of like hooking fans and getting them to move, which is a pretty effective strategy.
However, it is still difficult to maintain exercise habits after the event. Liao Yong said frankly that if the relevant incentives for the off-season can be designed in the future, it is believed that it will be an effective approach, and it will become a potential strategy to increase sports methods. ◇
Responsible editor: Lin Qinzhi
