Be Fit With Biray

I woke up this morning (a favorite part of my day) and realized I had to write a blog post immediately! For the past few days I’ve been haunted by my thoughts about how internet technologies (blogs, Facebook, YouTube, etc) are being utilized in the health and fitness arena. I hadn’t been able to construct my thoughts until now. This morning something clicked.

Is anyone even using these tools to measure health behaviors? Or are we simply using various platforms to promote health messages and market our health and fitness businesses?

Is a Facebook group on cancer or an exercise tip on YouTube any more effective than our previous forms of communication – such as through live groups, fitness DVDs, health education classes, and public health campaigns? Okay, so we reach more people through the internet (in a cost-effective way) – I get that. And sometimes the anonymity we gain when hiding behind a ‘screen name’ is comforting when dealing with certain health issues – I get that, too (although Facebook now has several alcoholics anonymous groups that are, well – not so anonymous.)

In studying health behavior change theories, most models suggest that bringing awareness to an issue or behavior is only one of many steps in the process of change. If a person doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, then how can he begin to implement change, right? Therefore, I can see value in utilizing social media in raising consciousness to a variety of health-related topics. Constructed well, the messages can reach broad audiences, and perhaps even motivate the beginnings of behavior change. You might even go so far as noting that the sheer volume of messages on the same topic, regardless of the source (be it expert or enthusiast), can create a momentum towards change. Case and point: the green movement.

But raising awareness is only one aspect of motivating change. Can these tools be used for more than mainstream messaging? Do they have any influence in sustaining a healthy lifestyle? Here are some of my initial (raw) thoughts…

Can Twitter be used as a teaching tool to introduce the art of mindfulness for the net-generation? One could argue that Twitter demonstrates the practice of recognizing what you are doing and feeling, when you are doing and feeling them. (Check out my thoughts on Twitter here.)

Can maintaining a blog between two people (i.e. a client and a trainer) increase adherence levels to a fitness program? If so, why and how can you measure its effects?

Can the process of creating your avatar for Second Life disclose a person’s self-image or self-esteem? If so, how can these be measured and translated to treating patients with eating disorders or body dysmorphic disorders? (Sabrina Doolittle wrote a fascinating post “Does Size Really Matter” earlier this year, in which she asked questions assessing the thoughts one considers when creating the body of their avatar.)

What can we extrapolate from watching hundreds of YouTube videos documenting people’s weekly weight loss updates? Does this really impact rate of behavior change and the quality of this change? Or are we simply being narcissistic? (Check out YouTube Can Be Fit to watch a montage of the health/fitness-related content posted.)

I think we owe it to ourselves to explore these tools further, especially in their application in the health and fitness fields. In researching these tools, we may find that we can gain different insights to our culture’s sport and health psychology.