Research from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of 
Pennsylvania and Boston University School of Medicine shows that the company of a friend and a gamified application is the best environment to reach your exercising goals. This means that social interaction and gamification triggers healthier living. Where the main driving forces are the challenge and the competitive environment. In this spirit, these activity trackers including designed gaming elements increased daily step counts by nearly one mile per day. The achieved daily fitness goals increased with 27 percent more than families who did not use these wearables and smartphones with gamified apps.
Gamification triggers healthier living
The researchers analyzed data from 200 adults comprising 94 families during 24 weeks. Joanne Murabito, MD, ScM, associate professor at the Boston University School of Medicine comments the results in the following way:
“By engaging families in an interactive game-based intervention using activity trackers, we found significant increases in physical activity. This approach is exciting because it has the potential to be scaled more broadly.”
Integrating Gamified triggers
In the same spirit, research from the University of New Mexico shows significant benefits of including gamification mechanics in products and services. It both triggers inner-motivation as well as health benefits. Professor Nick Flor at Anderson School of Management explains:
“Primitive humans evolved an innate affinity for playing games, because games allowed them to practice and develop in a safe environment, those mental and physical skills necessary for survival when actually fighting, hunting or gathering. Gamification touches on a primal instinct to find and collect things. To hone eye-hand coordination, to assimilate into a culture, and ultimately to have an avenue to compete with one another.”
This general gamification trend that now works as an increasingly integrated mechanics in many fields of society. For instance for marketing and learning, health is another area where it can trigger great results. The data collection and analysis of the training efforts are a good example of “the gamification of routine”.
Written by
LarsGoran Bostrom©
Sources:
Penn Medicine News
The University of New Mexico
____________________________________________________________
Learn more about IN>D:Valley and 360 degrees comics
The productions are created in SOE PublishingLab with gamification features and other interactive experiences
Opens in a new tab