Lottery Incentives for Moving

The purpose of the study is to learn more about effective ways to motivate people to increase their non-exercise energy expenditure exercise. This is an important research question because obesity and weight-related issues are increasingly becoming a problem in America. This project will address this research question by testing the effect of two different incentive schemes in motivating employees who are predominantly sedentary to use Walkstations at work. The Walkstations are treadmills that move at a very slow rate (maximum 2miles / hour) and are attached to a work station (i.e. with computer and telephone); they therefore are designed to increase energy spent not through heavy exercise, but through small changes in posture and movement associated with routines in daily life (called nonexercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT).

Subjects will be employees of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA). Subjects will be the control participants from the previous Walkstation study we ran with BCBSMA. All 120 control participants from this previous study will be told that they can now participate in a study that involves the Walkstations (up until now, they have not been given access to the Walkstations). These participants from the previous study will be sent an email informing them that they are eligible to participate in this new Walkstation pilot. Those who are interested in participating will then be invited to sign up for an enrollment session. There will be no incentives for participating in the initial enrollment session. For the 2 month follow-up session, participants will have a chance to win 1 of 3 prizes (1 * $100, 2 * $50) for completing the follow-up.