Moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity has an established preventative role in obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. However recent evidence suggests that sitting time affects health negatively independent of whether adults meet prescribed physical activity guidelines. Since many of us spend long hours daily sitting in front of a host of electronic screens, this is cause for concern. In this paper, we describe a set of three prototype digital games created for encouraging light-intensity physical activity during short breaks at work. The design of these kinds of games is a complex process that must consider motivation strategies, interaction methodology, usability and ludic aspects. We present design guidelines for technologies that encourage physical activity in the workplace that we derived from a user evaluation using the prototypes. Although the design guidelines can be seen as general principles, we conclude that they have to be considered differently for different workplace cultures and workspaces. Our study was conducted with users who have some experience playing casual games on their mobile devices and were able and willing to increase their physical activity.
@cite_18: iPhone is emerging as a ubiquitous physical activity measurement platform due to its incorporated accelerometer sensor. The iPhone's capacity to accurately measure physical activity has not been put to scrutiny up to now, despite claims from an increasing number of applications. This study examines ways to perform accurate physical activity measurements with the iPhone, at various positions on the user's body. The study focuses on walking and running - the two most prevalent aerobic activities. For walking, a methodology has been developed that translates accelerometer values from peripheral body locations to equivalent readings on the waist and from there to metabolic units. For running, the limitation of iPhone to perform accurate metabolic measurements is documented. The formulas and results in this paper can readily be used by developers to increase the accuracy of fitness applications and improve user experience.
@cite_4: Moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity has an established preventive role in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and some cancers. However, recent epidemiologic evidence suggests that sitting time has deleterious cardiovascular and metabolic effects that are independent of whether adults meet physical activity guidelines. Evidence from “inactivity physiology” laboratory studies has identified unique mechanisms that are distinct from the biologic bases of exercising. Opportunities for sedentary behaviors are ubiquitous and are likely to increase with further innovations in technologies. We present a compelling selection of emerging evidence on the deleterious effects of sedentary behavior, as it is underpinned by the unique physiology of inactivity. It is time to consider excessive sitting a serious health hazard, with the potential for ultimately giving consideration to the inclusion of too much sitting (or too few breaks from sitting) in physical activity and health guidelines.
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@cite_0: Computer games lack the social bonding and collective physical exercise benefits that sports provide. To overcome these limitations, we have been investigating how to apply the benefits of sport, in particular the workout and social bonding effect, in a distributed setting. We designed, developed, and evaluated Breakout for Two, which allows people who are miles apart to play a physically exhausting ball game together. We had over a thousand players who interacted through a life-size video-conference screen using a regular soccer ball as an input device. In an evaluative study, 56 players were interviewed and said that they got to know the other player better, had more fun, became better friends, and were happier with the transmitted audio and video quality in comparison to those who played the same game using a nonexertion keyboard interface. These results suggest that sports over a distance is an exciting new field with an "exertion interface" that encourages remote interaction, where players can achieve both a work-out and socializing.
@cite_10: Summary Background Strong evidence shows that physical inactivity increases the risk of many adverse health conditions, including major non-communicable diseases such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and breast and colon cancers, and shortens life expectancy. Because much of the world's population is inactive, this link presents a major public health issue. We aimed to quantify the effect of physical inactivity on these major non-communicable diseases by estimating how much disease could be averted if inactive people were to become active and to estimate gain in life expectancy at the population level. Methods For our analysis of burden of disease, we calculated population attributable fractions (PAFs) associated with physical inactivity using conservative assumptions for each of the major non-communicable diseases, by country, to estimate how much disease could be averted if physical inactivity were eliminated. We used life-table analysis to estimate gains in life expectancy of the population. Findings Worldwide, we estimate that physical inactivity causes 6 (ranging from 3·2 in southeast Asia to 7·8 in the eastern Mediterranean region) of the burden of disease from coronary heart disease, 7 (3·9–9·6) of type 2 diabetes, 10 (5·6–14·1) of breast cancer, and 10 (5·7–13·8) of colon cancer. Inactivity causes 9 (range 5·1–12·5) of premature mortality, or more than 5·3 million of the 57 million deaths that occurred worldwide in 2008. If inactivity were not eliminated, but decreased instead by 10 or 25 , more than 533 000 and more than 1·3 million deaths, respectively, could be averted every year. We estimated that elimination of physical inactivity would increase the life expectancy of the world's population by 0·68 (range 0·41–0·95) years. Interpretation Physical inactivity has a major health effect worldwide. Decrease in or removal of this unhealthy behaviour could improve health substantially. Funding None.
@cite_12: Lifestyle modification is a key facet of the prevention and management of chronic diseases. Mobile devices that people already carry provide a promising platform for facilitating these lifestyle changes. This paper describes key lessons learned from the development and evaluation of two mobile systems for encouraging physical activity. We argue that by supporting persistent cognitive activation of health goals, encouraging an extensive range of relevant healthy behaviors, focusing on long-term patterns of activity, and facilitating social support as an optional but not primary motivator, systems can be developed that effectively motivate behavior change and provide support when and where people make decisions that affect their health.
Our work is informed by prior work in three distinct areas: depth and sensor based approaches for physical interaction; movement-based play; and short duration breaks at work. Research has shown exergames, which combine exercise and digital games motivate people to be more physically active @cite_0 . Our goal is to ameliorate the adverse effects of extended periods of sitting, an unavoidable consequence of modern work and lifestyles, using playful mechanisms. Increasing bodily movement by taking breaks from sitting is advocated as a means for increasing metabolism @cite_3 and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease @cite_10 . Recent evidence suggests health consequences of too much sitting" are distinct from those of too little exercise" @cite_4 . Substantial amount of research has been devoted to promoting physical activity in general through mobile devices with embedded sensors @cite_12 @cite_18 or through dedicated devices like the Nike Fuel Band Nike. http: www.nike.com us en c nikeplus-fuelband or the FitBit Fitbit. http: www.fitbit.com to calculate number of steps walked, distance run, or calories expended. However, there is limited work that promotes physical activity during prolonged sitting at work and we hope to fill this gap.