An longitudinal study reported in the American Journal of Health Promotion examined the effects on hospital admissions and costs of a program offering points-based incentives to members of a private health insurance scheme. In the five year study period, it found an increase in fitness activities was  associated with a lower probability of hospital admissions and lower hospital costs. Given the increasing burdens of both physical inactivity and hospital costs, perhaps all health funds should offer incentives to people to get fitter.

The  304,054 adult participants were members of the health fund.  Sixty-three percent (192,467) registered for the health promotion program offering incentives for fitness-related activities. Specifically, the program placed participants in activity categories according to their annual number of gym visits. More than 48 gym visits a year was ‘high activity’, 24-48 visits ‘medium activity’, 4-24 visits ‘low activity’ and less than 4 visits ‘inactive’. Members could also accumulate points through registration in sport events like fun runs. Participation in activities allowed members to claims discounts of 20-40% in certain retail stores. Changes in participation in fitness activities over years 1-3 was monitored and examined in comparison with subsequent costs of hospital admission in years 4 and 5, based on health insurance claims.

Over the five years, there was a significant decrease in the proportion of inactive members (76% to 68%) and the proportion of high activity members increased from 10% to 13%. Those who remained highly active in years 1–3 had a significantly lower probability (20.7%) of hospital admission in years 4 to 5, compared with those who remained inactive (22.2%).

Benefits in becoming more active were evident; Members in the inactive-to–more active group were significantly less likely to be admitted to hospital and had lower hospital claims than those in the inactive-to–no change group. Members in the active-to–no change and active-to–more active groups also claimed less and had a lower rate of hospital admissions than those in the active-to–less active group. A dose-response relationship was also discovered; the likelihood of hospital admission was 13% lower for two additional gym visits per week.

The results are quite encouraging, especially given the activity categories do not necessarily reflect optimum doses of physical activity. The ‘high activity’ category could be achieved by attending the gym less than once a week and the activities engaged in whilst at the gym are unknown.

Imagine the possible outcome if we could get people active every day!!

Bottom Line – if you want ot reduce your risk of ending up in hospital, get moving and get fitter.

If you’re giving up time and effort, you want to get the best ROEE (return on effort and energy) possible. Here’s some more tips to get the most from your exercise.

Add a few hills

Hills are a great way to build muscle on your glutes and legs, and to increase your overall metabolism.

A lot of aerobic exercise doesn’t have a lasting effect on your metabolic rate (unlike weight training), but hills are an exception to this rule if you work hard getting up them.

Either set the treadmill to an incline or find a hill somewhere convenient. You can start with fast walking to begin with, but try to include some light running as well.

One big advantage of hill running is that there is less impact on your knees and hips when you land, as you are working against gravity. Don’t get tempted to run back down the hill as this is when the joint damage is most likely to occur. Use the downhill as your recovery time and enjoy the view.

Use aerobic exercise to supplement your strength training

Long slow aerobic exercise is a very inefficient way to try and get fit, but aerobic exercise used in conjunction with strength training can make your workout more intense and produce results.

Instead of resting between sets of exercises, do some running on the spot, skipping, rowing or cycling. You don’t have to go as hard as an interval session, but obviously the faster you go the more benefit.

I recently bought a rowing machine and use it between exercise sets to boost the intensity and return from my workouts.

Focus on what you are doing

Most people use exercise to switch off and let their mind drift. It’s relaxing and not a bad thing. I certainly do that sometimes, especially when I am feeling a bit tired or have a lot going on in my head. The problem with doing this is that our body tends to cruise along at what is a comfortable pace.

If you want to get fitter or maintain your fitness, you can’t do it all the time. Some sessions each week, or parts of sessions, you need to focus on what you are doing and exercise at an intensity that pushes you out of your comfort zone. This is why intervals are good; you get to focus and go fast for short bursts then ease off and let your mind wander.

While it’s okay to drift off mentally when exercising, just don’t do it all the time or when riding a bike or running near traffic!!

Life hacking is figuring out ways to make life easier or more effective.

I just received an email from my good friend and mentor Matt Church.  Matt is the founder of Thought Leaders and one of the most influential people I know.

Matt defined life hacking as figuring out ways to make life easier or more effective and I realised that one of my goals in promoting  and educating people about fitness is so that it makes their life easier.

While it might not seem that way when you first start out, and it does take some effort, getting and staying fit does make your life easier.

Everyday tasks are less demanding.

Keeping up with your kids or grandkids doesn’t exhaust you.

Running for a bus doesn’t wear you out for the whole morning.

Lifting the shopping doesn’t strain a muscle.

Walking around Paris doesn’t feel like a marathon.

Whatever you like to do in life, and whatever age you are, dedicating 30-60 minutes a day to being a fit as you can be makes the other 23 hours much easier.

So get fit and get into life hacking.

It maybe not be today, but one day you’ll be so glad you did.