Burn and Earn - What Happens To The Freshman 15?

In follow up to last week's post about whether we should be paid to move (and if so, how), a new study just looked at what happens when first year college students get paid to go to the gym.

This American study randomly assigned 117 first year college students to receive pay for going to the gym, vs not receiving pay for their efforts.  Weekly pay for the paid group ranged between $10 to $38.75 USD, with higher pay each week if they were consistent in their attendance.

After 3 months, they found that 63% of students in the paid group met their attendance goals at the gym, with only 13% of students who were not getting paid meeting those goals.  However, weight increased in both groups, with no difference in the amount of weight gained in each group.  Both groups gained about 1kg (just over 2 lb) during the three months of the study, which is a typical rate of weight gain during the the first year in college (contrary to the popular belief of the Freshman 15,  the average university student gains only a few pounds in the first year).

So what does this teach us?  Well, besides showing that cash is a strong incentive (money talks!), it is worthwhile to consider why both groups gained weight, and the same amount of weight at that.  The study didn't monitor what type of exercise was done at the gym - they just had to be there for 30 minutes.   So if a person goes to the gym and stretches for 30 minutes, there won't be much calorie burn.  Secondly, while exercise is important for overall health and weight maintenance, weight management is 90% about the food intake, and 10% about the exercise.  So if a student walked for 30 minutes on a treadmill (burning about 150 calories), and picked up a Kit Kat from the vending machine at the front door (about 260 calories), the balance is still in favor of weight gain.

There are some interesting online/app sites that use cash incentives to help motivate gym attendance, where you pay if you don't meet your gym attendance goals, and you get paid if you do (the amount of money paid by those who don't attend is divvied up to those who do).  If any of my readers has tried this, I would love to hear your feedback!

Thanks to the Canadian Obesity Network and the Obesity + Alert system for the heads' up on this study!

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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Should We Be Paid To Move?

There's been a lot of discussion as to how our society can be changed to encourage more active living, and a recent review focuses on various ways to encourage active living that result in either financial savings, or even pay the person, to follow the more active plan.


I'd like to poll my readers about some strategies that have been looked at in research trials (as discussed in this review) - please comment on this blog post at the bottom to tell me what you think would work or what wouldn't:


1.  Would you cycle to work more often if you were paid, let's say, $5 per day by your employer, to do it?

2.  If public transport was subsizided, would you use it more often? (you'd be walking to and from public transport locations, thereby increasing exercise)

3.  If a $2 toll booth was installed on the road between your home and work, would you opt for a bicycle, the bus, or walking instead? This was done in Stockholm, Sweden, and resulted in 25% less car journeys.

4.  What if you were paid not to use a car park? In California, this resulted in a whopping 39% increase in active communting.

5.  If bicycles were free in your city, would you use them more often?  This is true in some cities, including the city I love and once called home, Copenhagen, Denmark (pictured above) - check out the CityBike system!


At the end of the day, we need to change our society to promote a more active lifestyle - the question is how to do it.....


Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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