In the last blog I suggested we need a different approach to solve the current and looming crisis in our health system. I proposed that perhaps the government should invest more money than they do into getting people more active and fitter. I believe this will be essential to reduce demand for health services in the future.
An interesting study I read about recently gives some insight into how investing some money up front might make a difference in the long term.
The economists from the University of California, started from the premise that exercise is a habit; some people have developed the habit and some haven’t. The researchers designed experiments to find out whether financial incentives can help. They recruited 120 students and gave them each a brochure on the benefits of exercise. Forty received just the brochure, 40 received $25 if they went to the (free) gym once the following week and 40 were offered an extra $100 if they went to the gym eight times or more in the next four weeks.
The researchers used attendance records from the gym to compare all 120 students’ gym visits before, during and for seven weeks after the study finished.
The results were quite encouraging. The students who were paid to attend the gym for four weeks not only went during the study, they continued to go after they stopped being paid. They continued to attend about as often as when they were being paid.
The economists concluded that “it may be possible to encourage the formation of good habits by offering monetary compensation for a sufficiently long baseline period, as doing so appears to move some people past the threshold needed to engage in the activity.”
For many people, just feeling good and looking better isn’t enough to develop the habit. This is probably because it takes some time before you start to feel good and look different. Many people give up long before the results start to show up on their waist or in the mirror. Having a financial incentive to keep a person going until the results appear might be the answer many need.
Imagine if governments paid people to attend a gym or exercise regularly for 12 months. By then many would have formed the habit of exercising and continue to do so. The long term savings to the health system would be phenomenal. Given the current pressures and looming crisis in our health systems, it may be one way to reduce the demand for health services. Continually trying to meet that demand is never going to work.
