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Integrating the notion of pleasure into campaigns promoting physical activity – instead of the perennial health discourse – could further encourage the population to move.
Sport is health”. Certainly. But is this eternal refrain enough to motivate us to play sports? Unsurprisingly, the answer is no. To encourage people to go to the room, an article in The conversation ensures that it would be good to highlight the “notion of pleasure”. Explanations.
Sport: highlighting pleasure could be more “motivating”
Many public health messages encourage the population to be more active, like the famous slogan “eat, move”.
Except that in France, as in many countries, the levels of physical activity have never been so low.
Thus, according to Public Health France, only half of boys and a third of girls reach the WHO recommendations for physical activity (2006 data, no change since). At the same time, the daily time spent in front of screens has increased sharply in recent years.
So has television become more attractive than sport?
According to the media The conversation the problem would lie in the speech – not very convincing – of the public authorities.
“The 2020 WHO recommendations for physical activity mention the word “healthy” more than 200 times… and “fun” zero times“, thus notes the magazine. “Living positive affective experiences by practicing physical activity can reduce the cost of perceived effort. In addition, the pleasure that physical activity can provide is an immediate reward, the effects of which tend to last over a short affective window (reduced anxiety, improved vitality, quality of sleep)“, he further clarifies.
Conversely, the health benefits provided by sport… would be obtained in the long term. What discourage more than one.
Play on the environment to have a good time
Having fun during your sports session may seem simple on paper, but it is not.
Different parameters need to be adjusted to maximize his pleasure.
“Moving around in an environment dear to our eyes, in good company and when the sun goes down, listening to lively music, selecting a type of physical exercise and an intensity that are pleasant to us: so many parameters to take care of in order to live a physical activity that is no longer limited to its health benefits“, concludes the magazine.