Home-Based Exercise Gaming for Physically Inactive Individuals
Condition: Physical Inactivity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Current guidelines recommend that adults undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity
      physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. However, many adults
      fail to be physically active according to this definition of the World Health Organisation
      (WHO). This represents a large economic burden to healthcare systems and public health. A
      number of behavioural and environmental factors associated with modern lifestyles are largely
      responsible for the high levels of physical inactivity including; motorised transport and
      sedentary jobs, lack of time, limited access to adequate exercise facilities, lack of
      motivation, financial constraints and environmental factors including bad weather. In an
      attempt to overcome many of the common barriers to exercise, members of our research group
      developed a virtually-monitored exercise intervention that used simple on-the-spot bodyweight
      exercises to be performed in the participant's home without supervision or equipment. This
      home-based intervention was designed to be a practical and effective training strategy
      capable of producing metabolic and functional adaptions while removing many of the common
      barriers to exercise. Despite promising results, more engaging exercise strategies are needed
      to motivate sedentary individuals to increase their physical activity.

      Inspired by current trends in the fitness market, Sphery Ltd. developed an immersive and
      motivating fitness exercise game (exergame), the "ExerCube". The ExerCube allows a full-body
      workout that concurrently challenges physical and cognitive functions and adapts to the
      fitness and skill level of the individual. The development of a home-based version of the
      ExerCube has the potential to make this system available to more individuals, reduce major
      barriers to exercise, and ultimately provide a strategy to improve cardio-metabolic health in
      the population. Innovative home-based exergames are particularly in demand given the increase
      in the number of people wanting to exercise at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
    

Detailed description: 
      Current guidelines recommend that adults undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity
      physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. Regular physical
      activity improves many cardiovascular and metabolic health makers including beneficial
      effects on body weight, insulin sensitivity, glycaemic control, lipid profile, endothelial
      function and aerobic capacity. Despite overwhelming evidence that an inactive lifestyle leads
      to chronic disease and premature death, many adults fail to meet physical activity
      guidelines. Physical inactivity, defined as physical activity levels less than those required
      for optimal health and prevention of premature death, is a public health crisis. More than
      1.4 billion adults worldwide classed as physically inactive, representing a large economic
      burden to healthcare systems. Clearly, new strategies are urgently needed to increase
      physical activity participation in the increasingly inactive population.

      A number of behavioural and environmental factors associated with modern lifestyle including
      urbanisation, mechanisation and increased motorised transport are largely responsible for the
      high prevalence of physical inactivity, in addition to a number of common exercise barriers.
      Lack of time is cited as the main barrier to exercise as many individuals feel that
      increasing work hours and family commitments mean they cannot achieve the physical activity
      guidelines. Other common barriers within the general population include limited access to
      exercise facilities and appropriate equipment, difficulty with transportation, inadequate
      financial resources, bad weather and lack of motivation to engage in regular exercise. In an
      attempt to overcome many of the common barriers to exercise, members of our research group
      developed a virtually-monitored exercise intervention that used simple on-the-spot bodyweight
      exercises that could be performed in the participant's home without supervision or equipment.
      This home-based intervention was designed to be a practical and effective training strategy
      capable of producing metabolic and functional adaptions while removing many of the common
      barriers to exercise uptake and adherence such as "intimidating" gym environments, difficulty
      with access to facilities, travel time and financial constraints. Although these pilot
      studies successfully reduced common exercise barriers, more engaging exercise strategies are
      needed to increase levels of physical activity in the physically inactive population.

      Inspired by current trends in the fitness market, the Swiss company Sphery Ltd. developed an
      immersive and motivating fitness exercise game (exergame), the "ExerCube". The ExerCube
      provides a full-body workout that concurrently challenges physical and cognitive functions as
      well as adapting to the individuals' fitness and skill level. Previous research has shown
      that the ExerCube is an effective training method that is more enjoyable than conventional
      exercise training. Development of a home-based version of the ExerCube has the potential to
      make this system available to more individuals, and to reduce major barriers to exercise,
      providing an attractive strategy to improve cardio-metabolic health of the population.
      Innovative home-based exergames are in demand given the increase in the number of people
      wanting to exercise at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
    

Intervention name(s): Home-based exergaming
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participants will undertake one of two 6-week training interventions. In both groups participants will be asked to train 3 times per week (18 sessions total), during which adherence to the training will be measured. To monitor adherence to training and training load (exercise completion, exercise duration and heart rate achieved during workouts) throughout the 6 weeks participants will be given a heart rate monitor.
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Intervention model description: A single-centre, single-armed, open label pilot study
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Other
Keywords: Home-based exercise gaming; Cardiovascular health; Neurocognitive health; Physical Inactivity; Exergame