We’re delighted to announce that a collaborative study between Sweatcoin and the University of Warwick has been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM)! The study concluded that users experienced a 19.5% increase in daily step count following registration, with 34% of participants exhibiting behavior change following registration. We know incentive-based fitness has significant benefits – and now we have the science to back it up.

What was the purpose of the study?

Dr. Mark Elliot, Assistant Professor of Healthcare Technologies and Behaviour Change and researchers from the University of Warwick’s Institute of Digital Healthcare (IDH) worked with us on the 12-month project, funded by Innovate UK. The project aimed to develop a novel verification process for counting indoor steps, and investigate reward and motivation behavior in our users.

And the problem?

The University of Warwick are concerned with the same issues we are. Over 60% of Brits are either overweight or obese, costing the UK economy £3 billion a year. We need to find an effective method of getting sedentary people moving over a sustained period. In short – we need to make more people active and make the habit stick. Mark Elliot and his team recognized Sweatcoin’s potential as a tool that provides incentives for exercise and set about finding the data to support this.

How was the study implemented?

The team analyzed activity data from 5,306 Sweatcoin users over a 6 month period and measured their daily step count in the months following registration. This was compared with their steps in the 3 months prior to using the app. More than 800 users completed a questionnaire which provided details on their demographic and activity information. This was used to investigate differences between groups, and seasonal differences were also factored in.

What were the results?

“Sweatcoin’s main aim is to motivate people to be more active, so it was a very positive result when our analyses found that a user being classed as overweight was one of the predictors of them substantially increasing their step count after downloading the app. This suggests the app is effective in motivating those who were fairly inactive beforehand.” Dr. Mark Elliot, Assistant Professor of Healthcare Technologies and Behaviour Change at the IDH, Warwick University

Dr. Elliot’s words sum up the positive findings of the study, and we were thrilled with the results. To read about the other conclusions from the study, check out the full article: Physical activity behavior change driven from engagement with an incentive-based app: evaluating the impact of Sweatcoin