On this, Martin Luther King Day and the day before Barack Obama is to be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, you might think that this blog’s title portends a political theme.  Worry not.   This blog is about is how “wishing” or naming how a person wants to change their physical activity coupled with the declaration of how they will work around obstacles to their wish may actually help people increase their physical activity level.  

A 16-week study published in the January 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine randomized 256 women to one of two groups:

1. Information group – participants reviewed information about physical activity and received a diary to record their daily physical activity
2. Information + self-regulation group – participants received the same information as the other group but they also learned a self-regulation technique call “mental contrasting with implementation intentions.”  As such, they identified their most important physical activity wish and stated what would be the most positive outcome of attaining that wish.  They then identified the biggest obstacle to attaining the wish and used “if-then” statements to help them make specific plans for overcoming the obstacle.  They were encouraged to practice this technique each day using a physical activity diary.

Both groups of women participated only in a single training session.  They completed follow-up physical activity surveys at weeks 1, 4, 8, and 16.

The results?  At four weeks, the women in the self-regulation group got 111 minutes of physical activity and the information-only group did 58 minutes, increases from baseline of 65 minutes and 20 minutes, respectively.  At 16 weeks, physical activity dropped of about 15% in each group but the differences between the groups were still statistically significant.

The amazing thing about this study is that the self-regulation technique was taught to participants in a single intervention session.  Thus, it appears to be a very low-cost strategy that people may be able to learn and then use on their own.  More research is needed, of course, to determine how effective the method is beyond 16 weeks.

What do you wish for with regards to your physical activity?

Stadler G, et al.  Physical activity in women:  Effects of a self-regulation intervention. American Journal of Preventive Medicine.  2009;36(1):29-34.