centered image

centered image

Want To Get Fit? Have Friends Who Go To The Gym: Exercise Is 'Contagious'

Discussion in 'Physical and Sports Medicine' started by Dr.Scorpiowoman, Apr 18, 2017.

  1. Dr.Scorpiowoman

    Dr.Scorpiowoman Golden Member

    Joined:
    May 23, 2016
    Messages:
    9,028
    Likes Received:
    414
    Trophy Points:
    13,075
    Gender:
    Female
    Practicing medicine in:
    Egypt

    73ccc96c55079fa706d966d6c05d21c8.jpg

    Want to get fit? Have friends who go to the gym: Exercise is 'contagious' and makes women more physically active if they see their friends are too

    • Staying physically active with someone else encourages you to run much faster
    • But it's bad news for men as the technique only works for women, scientists say
    • The new findings could lead to better ways of fighting obesity, researchers claim


    If you want to get fit, become friends with people who enjoy exercising.

    It may be the best way to stay in shape because going to the gym is contagious, scientists claim.

    Staying physically active with someone else encourages you to run faster, further and burn more calories, according to the first study of its kind.


    But it's bad news for men as the technique only works for women because they are motivated by each other, unlike their competitive counterparts.


    3f3377e8f0e9e50a674da43152deba5f.jpg


    Having friends who enjoy exercising may be the best way to stay in shape because going to the gym is contagious, scientists claim

    The findings from more than one million people could lead to new ways of fighting obesity, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology say.

    Lead author Dr Christos Nicolaides said: 'We found exercise is socially contagious, revealing a behavioural mechanism that could explain the correlations in obesity and happiness found in earlier work.

    'These results suggest social intervention strategies, which account for peer effects, may spread behaviour change in networks.'

    He said that on average, an additional kilometre ran by a friend influences someone to run an additional 300m.

    In the same way, an additional 10 minutes ran by a friend encourages someone to go for an extra three minutes.

    But writing in the journal Nature Communications, he said that this peer influence diminishes over time.

    Runners were found to be more influenced by those whose performance is slightly worse, but not far worse, than their own.

    While similar psychological effects were found from friends who performed slightly better, but not far better.



    e95dcb7a4da8bed91c43f689a86fa031.jpg


    Staying physically active with someone else encourages us to run faster, further and burn more calories, according to the first study of its kind

    Dr Nicolaides said comparisons to those behind us may help to create 'competitive behaviour to protect one's superiority'.

    We found exercise is socially contagious, revealing a behavioural mechanism that could explain the correlations in obesity and happiness found in earlier work
    Dr Christos Nicolaides, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    He added that the findings revealed 'strong contagion effects' which varied with gender relationships.

    He added: 'Men strongly influence men, and women moderately influence both men and women. But, men do not influence women at all.

    'This may be due to gender differences in the motivations for exercise and competition.

    'For example, men report receiving and being more influenced by social support in their decision to adopt exercise behaviours, while women report being more motivated by self-regulation and individual planning.

    'Moreover, men may be more competitive and specifically more competitive with each other.'


    For the study, the researchers used daily data from digital fitness tracking devices and social networks.

    They then monitored these to find the running habits of 1.1 million individuals and how they were influenced by their friends.

    Data contained the distance, duration and pace, as well as the calories burned during each of the said runs.

    When a run was completed, it was immediately digitally shared with friends, the researchers noted.

    Previous research has found having a friend who is overweight raises a person's risk of being obese by 57 percent.

    It is believed social factors, such as the body sizes of other people, were important in developing obesity.

    Another study found happiness spreads through social groups and the closer you are to someone with a sunny disposition, the more likely you are to be happy as well.


    Source
     

    Add Reply

Share This Page

<