Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Looking for a new exercise partner to get you moving? Try your PDA. A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that personal digital assistants, programmed to prod their users to exercise and record their activity, were more effective than paper reminders in motivating middle-aged and older adults.

About 30 participants were assigned to receive either a PDA or a paper handout with standard exercise information. PDA recipients could set goals and track their progress on the devices. Over eight weeks, people in the PDA group worked out for five hours each week on average -- three hours more than the paper group.

One reason, say the researchers: the PDA's persistence. The device had been preprogrammed to beep once in the afternoon and once in the evening to query users about the day's workout; if ignored, it beeped three more times. Abby King, the study's lead researcher, said that many participants responded only after the fourth beep.

The PDAs were custom-designed, but least one company, Sensei, offers a similar option on mobile phones for about $25 per month. Sensei pings your phone when it's time to exercise and reminds you what you vowed to do (30 minutes, treadmill, for example); it also helps you set daily food goals. King expects more cellphone companies to offer such systems. Your aim in choosing one, she says, "should be the ability to individualize it, so that you can record your goals and preferences and have the system check on your progress."

-- Francesca Lunzer Kritz