Moving for Media

Picture taken by reuvenim on October 27, 2007
http://www.flickr.com/photos/reuvenim/1807513199/

“Turn that dang thing off and go outside.” my mother told my brothers and me. Of course the “dang thing” she was speaking of was the TV that had me mesmerized for hours at a time. Though at the time I despised my mother’s commands, now I realize how lucky I was. Some children do not have this forced motivation to do physical activity. This creates laziness and obesity tendencies, making TV viewing by kids a controversial subject. To find connections between physical activity, media usage, and weight gain, many groups began performing several studies. One study in particular was conducted by Karen and David Larwin called “Decreasing Excessive Media Usage While Increasing Physical Activity: A Single-Subject Research Study.” This study modified physical activity by making media usage dependent on the amount of physical activity performed. Karen and Larwin believe this will increase the amount of physical activity, decrease media usage and improve the overall health of the participant.

The Larwins think the increased accessibility of new forms of media is a large factor of poor fitness and obesity of today’s youth. They feel that by limiting the availability and time of usage and replacing this time with physical activity will result in better health. They proposed an innovative plan on how to achieve these changes. They would require a certain amount of physical exercise in order for a certain amount of media usage.

The volunteer participant for this modification was a 14-year-old adolescent female who had recently been prescribed by both her counselor and physician to increase her exercise. On her own attempts to lose weight, she made adjustments in her diet, but this was a failure. Coming into the modification she had gained ten pounds and believed physical activity to be a punishment and would rather spend her time on the computer or talking to friends on the phone.

For this study, her physical activity was measured by time on a Bowflex TreadClimber. Although this device has many functions, for this experiment it was used strictly as a regular treadmill. This device allowed the participant to easily measure time of physical exercise and also how far/fast she walked. To ensure that she maintained the appropriate amount of activity and was reinforced correctly, her parents and a hired research assistant oversaw the experiment. Their job was also to make sure the data was recorded properly.

The investigation lasted 7 weeks. The first two were the baseline stage in which the normal physical exercise and media usage was recorded. This was to get a starting point in which the results would be compared. The next part of the study was the two week first treatment phase. During this time the participant received 1 hour of media usage for every mile walked with a one mile minimum. Failing to reach this one mile marker resulted in no media usage. In the three week second treatment phase, she was required 1.5 miles before receiving any media time. After conducting the study, a follow-up was performed 5 weeks later and again 1 year later to check her progress or any relapses into her previous behavior.

The results for this experiment were very promising. As assumed, the participant did not use the treadmill once during the fourteen day baseline phase. This was consistent with her natural behavior before the study. During Treatment Phase 1, she increased her usage significantly. She walked it every day during the two week period. She achieved the one mile minimum on all but one day and surpassed this goal on two of the days. Overall, she averaged .98 miles a day during this time. During Treatment Phase 2, she continued to increase her physical exercise. She walked every day and averaged 1.81 miles per day. This is more than the expected 1.5 mile minimum a day. She was above this minimum criterion ten of the 21 days and was only below it on two of the days. From this data, the Larwin’s prediction seems very promising.

There were a few other trends in the data collected. The first trend involves her BCM (Body Mass Composition) index. This measures the percent of fat compared to muscle in the body. The higher the number, generally the more overweight the participant is. To begin her BMC was around 27, but as she continued to exercise and workout, it dropped finally reaching under 24 by the end of Treatment Phase 2. Another change observed was the time spent on the internet and phone. From the beginning the participant spent a total tome of over 100 minutes combine on the two. By the end of the study, she was down to about 42 minutes. This is almost a 60% decrease in total media usage. This was great news for the study, but further examinations were required. A follow-up was performed 5 weeks and one year after the initial study. Both of these came back positive with maintained or increased exercise in each.

Judging by the total increase in physical exercise and decrease in time spent on media, the conductors of this experiment deemed it a successful behavior modification. By using this as an example, all other people, especially students, can improve their health by doing this for themselves. I know here at UNC, every students has their own computer which results in countless hours wasted inside when they could be exercising. If they implemented this they would all be in better shape and squander less time frying their brains.

Karen H. Larwin and David A Larwin, Decreasing Excessive Media Usage While Increasing Physical Activity: A Single-SUbject Research Study; Behavior Modification; November 2008 32: 938-956, first published on June 10, 2008 doi: 10.1177/0145445508319668