Hyperbolic discounting and physical health

Intervention · Public Health

Intervention Description

Physical health is an important problem in Canada, as 1/3 children and 6/10 adults are either overweight or obese. One of the reasons people make unhealthy choices is that these choices are immediately rewarding, while the rewards of healthy choices are in the future. As you might expect, short-term rewards tend to be valued more highly than long-term rewards. To give healthy choices short-term value, the Public Health Agency of Canada created an app that uses the idea of loyalty points, that are given for healthy behavior. They are rewarded for healthy eating, exercise, learning about health, and more. There are no current results; the program will continue until 2020, at which point the effectiveness of this program will be known.

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