Behaviour change study on physical activity
How technology-based incentives drive healthier lives
Conducted by RAND Europe, a not-for-profit global research institute, this study is the largest yet to measure the effectiveness of financial rewards coupled with wearable technology to make people more active over time.
"Our study suggests that incentivising physical activity can lead to better activity levels and the Vitality Active Rewards with Apple Watch benefit bears that finding out. Given RAND Europe’s fact-driven, evidenced-based research and analysis, we are pleased that our work has helped to deepen understanding of what works in designing health-promotion programmes.”_Hans Pung, President, RAND Europe
Study statistics
Total participants
422,643
Study period
3 years
Countries covered
South Africa, United Kingdom, United States
Tracked activities
Steps, heart rate, calories and gym visits
The physical activity study in a nutshell:
Research focused on Vitality Active Rewards with Apple Watch and how it works to make people more active.Vitality Active Rewards is grounded in the principles of behavioural economics – goal setting, loss aversion and immediate rewards.
Linked to the sophisticated technology capabilities of Apple Watch, it personalises physical activity goals and rewards activity recorded with Apple Watch.
There are more than five million people using Vitality Active Rewards globally.
The Antidote to Inactivity
How Vitality Active Rewards work with Apple Watch
Get Apple Watch
Get active
Be rewarded
Vitality has responded to global trends
By combining technology, behavioural science, and Vitality Shared-Value, Vitality Active Rewards with Apple Watch is easy to use and offers the opportunity to drive good health behaviour for more desirable outcomes in health systems:
Has mass appeal
People who are active or inactive, have high health risks or chronic health conditions, engage.
A foundation in behavioural economics
Micro goals, loss aversion and rewards as motivation help to change and maintain positive behaviour.
Funded through shared value
Profits generated from improved health and activity, lowers risks and are shared with members. Society benefits from healthier populations.
" Crucially, once we acknowledge that humans are fallible creatures, we can ask how to help them make better decisions. We can often do so with simple nudges that point people in the right direction, but don't force anyone to do anything. We need these helpful nudges now more than ever. We need these helpful nudges now more than ever. Consider the most important issues facing the world such as climate change, healthcare, an aging population, income inequality, xenophobia, and mounting threats to world peace. Each of these is, at its heart, behavioural.
But in these times when all news seems to be bad - or fake - I can report on progress. Around the world, governments and NGOs are working with behavioural scientists to design and test scientifically informed policies that are working."
Richard Thaler
Professor of Behavioural Science, Chicago Booth School of Business. Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences and co-author of the global best seller Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness.
Why this study is important
More than one in four adults globally are physically inactive
That’s 28% of the global population, or 1.4 billion people!
Moving is important - for better health and longer life expectancy. The World Health Organization Global Action plan on physical activity stresses the societal impact of physical inactivity.
The action plan suggests creating environments that promote physical activity to reduce various health risks and the rise of NCDs (non-communicable diseases).
Results of the study
They were 34% more active, which is the equivalent of an extra 4.8 days' physical activity per month.
They were also 34% more active than members engaging with Vitality Active Rewards alone.
Read the full results from RAND Europe here.