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Pokmon Go

Pokmon Go boosts exercise levels but only for a

short period, says study
Researchers say the positive effects of the augmented reality game on physical activity
are short-lived

Players of Pokmon Go took, on average, 955 extra steps a day in their first week of chasing digital
creatures.

Nicola Davis
Tuesday 13 December 2016 23.30 GMT

This article is 1 month old

Those searching for a fun way to boost their exercise levels might need to look
further than the next PokStop.
While Pokmon Go initially raised hopes of an innovative, albeit inadvertent,
approach to encouraging individuals to walk further, new research suggests such
effects are short-lived.
We found that playing Pokmon Go moderately increases [players] physical
activity but the effect was not sustained over [a] six week period, said Katherine
Howe, co-author of the research from Harvard University.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, Howe and colleagues from the US and
Sweden describe how they sought to unpick the impact of augmented reality
games on physical health by recruiting both players and non-players of Pokmon
Go through an online survey.
In total, 560 avid Pokmon Go players defined as being those who had reached
level five or higher and 622 individuals who had not downloaded the game took
part in the study during August 2016. All of the participants were between 18 and
35 years old and had an iPhone 6.
The smartphone automatically and passively records steps, allowing the
researchers to compare the activity of participants four weeks before players
downloaded the game with their number of steps taken during the six weeks

travel
all

after. It is very objective data it wasnt self-reported so we really had an

accurate reading of how many steps the users and non-users of the game
walked, said Howe.
'The silly game
helped me walk
again': readers on
Pokmon Go three
months on
Read more

The results revealed that before downloading the game both

non-players and soon-to-be players took a similar number of
steps a day, averaging 4126 and 4526 steps respectively.
However, after players had downloaded the app, the two
groups diverged.

While non-players took a similar number of steps per day

throughout the whole period of interest, players of Pokmon Go took, on average,
955 extra steps a day in their first week of chasing digital creatures. It translates
to around 11 minutes additional walking per day, which is about half of the World
Health Organisations recommendations for walking [of 150 minutes per week],
adds Howe. But the effect was short-lived within six weeks the number of extra
daily steps among players had returned to pre-download levels.
While the study did not probe the reasons behind the drop-off, Howe suggests it
could be down to a combination of two factors - some players quitting the game
completely and remaining players taking fewer steps.
Despite the findings, Howe remains optimistic that development of games like
Pokmon Go could a have positive impact in myriad ways.
There is a huge potential for augmented reality games to be beneficial for our
health they give us a reason to go outside, walk and socialise, she said. So I
think there is a huge potential to develop these games to not only increase
physical activity but also boost mental wellbeing, mood and social interaction for
people of all ages.

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