Health & Fitness Bulletins

February 18, 2025

Gamify Your Fitness Routine

Struggling to hit your step counts? Counting steps with a fitness tracker doesn’t always inspire people to be more active. But a friendly competition may help, a new study suggests.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published a study including about 600 overweight or obese adults. They received wearable step trackers and goals to increase their daily steps. The participants in the study were randomly divided into four groups. The control group had only goals and step counters. The other three groups were inspired through encouragement, prizes, support, and competition, an approach known as “gamification.”

After six months, all the gamification groups had significantly greater gains in daily step counts compared to the control group. The findings show games and competition are motivators when it comes to exercise.

Ready Step Go! Challenge your friends for a little friendly competition; the winner gets a movie night. Grab those step counters, establish goals, log the steps for each participant, and have fun.

Source: Kawachi I. It’s all in the game—The uses of gamification to motivate behavior change. JAMA Internal Medicine. Nov 1; 177 (11): 1593-4.