Guest Post by Yes.Fit
Finding the time to exercise and make healthy choices, while managing other aspects of life like family and work, can be difficult. It’s easy to let health fall to the wayside. Today, digital health tools are leveraging advanced technologies to help people stay continuously engaged and incorporate wellness into their daily life. Though it can be tough to get started, tools available today are built to garner adherence and enthusiasm for healthy behaviors – and help people get excited about their health.
For Lacey Gordon, a newborn child and a recent cross-country move had taken priority over exercise, and it was difficult to get into a routine. It was also difficult to find motivation with so many major life changes at one time. However, after researching races she could complete at her own pace, she discovered Yes.Fit, an orchestrator of virtual running and walking races and provider of a social support platform. She felt that the platform offered her a way to ease her way back into regular exercise.
Though she thought the idea of virtual races seemed odd, she welcomed the opportunity to get in shape at her own pace. “I wasn’t ready to start doing live races yet, even though I had wanted to, because I wanted to get more fit since I had gained all of my baby weight back after having given birth.”
“I turned my attention to the races and knew then I’d be hooked because of the miles I’d have to walk, the bling I could win by doing the races, and the benefits I could be gaining from all of the walking I’d be doing,” said Gordon.
Through the platform, she was engaged in exercise, and able to bring her young daughter on walks with her – making it a group activity. In addition, getting support from other members of the Yes.Fit group encouraged her to keep up the activity.
Gordon has completed 34 Yes.Fit races and walked over 1400 miles. What’s more, when she became pregnant with her second child, she was able to keep up the activity to stay healthy, and now completes the virtual races with her two young daughters.
“I love walking more now, pushing my stroller with our daughter, now daughters, sitting in it, and feeling my weight dropping,” she says. The community, and the challenges, have inspired her to continue exercising and participating.
As a result, she’s been more dedicated to her other interests, too. Gordon attributes her increased motivation for writing her book to the increase in exercise. “Feeling great helps my imagination go crazy even more so than before when I just sat around.”
Digital health and wellness tools, like wearables, smartwatches, and activity trackers, are encouraging user engagement in a number of ways. Whether it’s through notifications and triggers signaling that it’s time to exercise, a built user community that interacts and shares common goals, or even awards and badges, offering creative ways to sustain and encourage activity is key to adherence. Through tools and programs that empower users to get engaged – and stay engaged – organizations can move the needle on consumer health and wellness.
Yes.Fit is a customer of Validic. Views contained within this post do not reflect the views of Validic, its employees, or its affiliates.
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