I have been fortunate enough to work on a program designed to show kids how much fun and how easily fitness can be integrated into their daily schedules. Sponsored by The Humana Foundation and developed by the Humana Games for Health (HG4HTM) team within Humana’s Consumer Innovation Center, the program is designed to help combat childhood obesity in elementary and middle school aged children.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has tripled over the past 20 years with 34 percent of American children currently overweight and 13 percent being obese. Overweight and obese children with poor diet and sedentary lifestyles face increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, joint problems and an overall poor health status — problems historically associated with much older adults.
The success of the program can be attributed to the merging of video gaming with physical activity. The program translates steps walked into an online race where students compete against other schools in their challenge. Kids already play video games so integrating physical activity into an online game keeps the kids interested in playing. The participants wear a pedometer that automatically uploads their activity into the online game every time they pass by the access point placed in their school. The more steps you take, the more points accumulate that you can trade to ‘purchase’ accessories for your avatar like hats, scuba masks, tiaras, bling necklaces, etc. Each student at a school is on a team to see who can log the most steps, which power a virtual school bus around the world. As the class logs aggregate steps, these points can be used to ‘purchase’ upgrades for their school bus.
What makes The American Horsepower ChallengeSM unique is that 20 members of Congress from 14 states nationwide were honorary participants with the 67 schools and 1,585 children from their districts.
The success of the program, which began April 20 and ended May 29, is in the numbers. Together, the kids and Congressional members walked 132.34 million steps – 50,129 miles or twice the circumference of the Earth!
Another remarkable statistic is that students increased their activity 58 percent during the challenge over their normal activity level. This increase in activity is equivalent to walking 4,579 miles, the roundtrip distance from Washington, D.C. to Bakersfield, Calif., or burning 205,623 calories – the same caloric content as in 709 slices of pepperoni pizza!
Congratulations to the winning schools – Midland, Deer Lakes, Franklin Regional, Beaver Falls and Hopewell Memorial middle schools of Rep. Jason Altmire’s Pennsylvania 4th district. The schools walked 14.8 million steps, walked 5,637 miles and burned 253,133 calories. The district increased their physical activity 32 percent during the challenge over their normal activity level. This is equivalent to walking roundtrip between Philadelphia and Austin two times or the same caloric content as 1,206 chocolate bars!
The winning schools will each receive a $5,000 grant for health-related purposes from The Humana Foundation.
Additional congratulations to Rep. Geoff Davis of Kentucky’s 4th district for placing first in the step count competition among the 20 Congressional participants. Davis had 162,738 steps or the equivalent of walking 61.6 miles.
With a proven track record, the Horsepower ChallengeSM program is a great way to introduce healthy activity in a non-invasive manner into the classroom. As physical education requirements are reintroduced into the curriculum or as a health maintenance option, the Horsepower ChallengeSM keeps kids moving.
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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
I slept most of the flight to Salt Lake City. When we were close the sound of the tires descending woke me up and I looked out the window. I saw patches of murky brown swamp and cyanic waters below. The Salt Lake looked a little gross this time of year. But the mountains were gorgeous. Outside it was 70 degrees; yet the mountains were capped with snow.
I always forget that Utah has some of the best scenery this country can offer. They also have more children than I’ve ever seen in my life. They’re everywhere. Like iPhones.
The setting for one of the schools. Photo by flickr User humanagames.
Earl Hurst, President of Humana of Utah told me that his state was one of the largest producers of kids in the country. I am not surprised. Salt Lake is a very family friendly place. There is plenty of stuff to do outdoors and great schools to attend when you’re grown up. That’s one of the reasons why we’re so excited to launch the Horsepower Challenge (HPC) there. We have a new version of the game: 2.0, and its better and more exciting than ever (if you aren’t familiar with the HPC you can read about here). A quick rundown: the HPC is an online, social video game that is powered in the real world by your steps. Participants wear a wireless pedometer called an actiped that earns them points in the game. Points can be used to buy cool stuff for your (horse) avatar and collectively the steps move your team around tracks surrounding different world landmarks (Taj Mahal, White House, Great Pyramids, etc). Schools compete against other schools for prizes. Students learn about their new locations once they’ve walked there. The most active school wins. 2.0 takes all this and makes it look really slick; check it out at horsepowergame.com.
Humana of Utah sponsors the Utah Horsepower Challenge because healthy behavior and wellness needs to start an early age. Parents realize this; it’s why we see students starting to take the ‘walking bus’ to school (http://bit.ly/paTmc) and the success of ‘exergames’ like Wii Fit. Childhood obesity is a problem plaguing our planet. The Horsepower Challenge is one small step toward getting kids to start thinking about health.
The plan was to launch this game at four schools around Salt Lake. This required coordination beyond anything I’d done in a while. 250 participants had to be registered for the program using a brand new system. But I had a lot of help from the Salt Lake Humana Office and we tackled the registration head on. We had four launch events and four registration events in four days and it all went smoothly. We learned a lot about the game and what really motivates sixth graders.
How many of you have already bought something in the game? Photo by Cynthia Dickerson.
The kids were wild about the game. We had crowds of children clamoring for swag, running up and down the isles of gym, and jumping in place to test out their shiny new actipeds (which are actually black plastic with a matte finish). We brought Coach Boylen of the Utah Utes to one school and had TV stations and newspapers show up in droves. We had Big Blue of Utah State and their head basketball coaches at another event—they brought the kids to their feet and their voices to a resounding din. Every time we went to a launch the kids got riled up and excited to compete against the other Utah schools. They were motivated to step it up in order to outfit their horse avatar. They were full of questions and vigor. It was a rush.
My work didn’t end when I left Utah. Now I have the distinct pleasure of helping the schools take care of lost or broken pedometers, figuring out why someone didn’t get their steps, and answering questions like: why does it cost 5,000 steps to buy the afro wig? The answer is: it’s totally worth it. All of it. Because everyday I get comments in my email from the students telling me how much fun they’re having. Kids are taking this home, walking with their parents, challenging their peers, and moving their teams around the world. The newspapers are talking about how kids need to get out and be more active. A reporter on Channel Five Utah is wearing a pedometer. An ecstatic PE teacher hugged me.
Earl Hurst, President of Humana Utah talking to the students. Photo by flickr user humanagames.
This is all about taking something fun and making it healthy. We want to be where people already enjoy going and make their experience better, in every part of the world. What are you doing to stay healthy?
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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
Recently, a Louisiana state representative put forth legislation that would create a sin tax on video game equipment and television sets for what said politico called the “No Child Left Indoors” plan. The tax would likely be heavier on violent games. The revenue generated from the levied tax would theoretically be spent on outdoor equipment and recreation facilities.
New Mexico attempted a similar plan last year to no avail.
A Santa Monica city legislator wants to limit how much time kids in day care can spend playing video games. Moreover, a California assemblywoman is positing that any games played should be educational or healthful (think learning games like Sesame Street titles or exercise games like Wii Fit).
These bills may or may not have legs but is this where we’re going? Do we need the government to tell us to get a little exercise or kids are playing video games too often that are too violent?
I can understand and even sympathize with officials who think we’re letting kids spend too much time indoors playing video games. The populism has a draw. Childhood obesity and overweight is a national and soon-to-be-if-not-already global debacle. How did we ever let this happen?
Is this the right answer though? Can this problem be solved with legislation? This nuanced political calculus is long on symbolism but short on solutions—real short. We’re falling into the trap of attacking the symptoms of society’s ills as opposed to searching for root causes and developing real solutions.
I’m not saying I have all the answers. I think this problem can only be solved if one by one each of us takes “no kidding” steps to be healthy. Then help a friend or your child to do the same. Through our actions we can germinate a movement, both literally and figuratively.
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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
I’m not sure how I received the necessary nutrients to survive when I was a child. I liked to run around a lot and break things—and whenever my parents called me to eat I would tell them I was fasting and then hide under a table. I was essentially spoon fed (necessary term, despite the fact that we sub-continentals ate with our hands) till I was nine. Dinnertime was often interrupted by a brief escape prevented by the offer of Berenstain Bears at the table and a mouthful of food. The reading of children’s books at the table continued till I was fifteen. Despite my erratic and often punctuated eating habits, my mom, employing her unwavering genius, still got me to eat–usually thanks to a game.
My typical diet was a glass of whole milk (skinny kid with accelerated metabolism) with a plate of rice, meat, and potatoes. Meat came in the form of curry, masala, khorma, tikka, or vindaloo, and veggies were generally just aloo (spuds) and sometimes ghobi (cauliflower). Delicious right? Not for this child. All I wanted was candy and flamin’ hot cheetos. Years of desi umami had pushed me to desire the extremes of sweet and spicy. So Mom decided to let me eat my family members, one by one, in the order of how much I liked them, in the form of little balls of rice and meat and potato that she pushed together and called lokmahs. She would shape the food into balls so they resembled bite-sized jolly Bengali Ferrero Rochers arranged on a grid.
The big ones were usually uncles or my big brother and the small ones were cousins that I liked. She could get me through the big ones first because most of my uncles were boring and therefore deserved to be eaten quickly. If my brother had been mean that day he would be represented as one giant ball of food that I would force into my mouth and chew as I stomped around. The little friendly cousins were always last and even though I was almost full by that time I wasn’t going to be the one to keep family apart. Down they went with the rest to sing Bollywood songs in my duodenum. That’s what I imagined they were doing—because it was the fun way to think about it.
But my mom didn’t think about it that way. She was just trying to keep me alive and had stumbled on something very true: Taking fun things and making them healthy is a great way to keep people healthy. I was able to unleash monster justice on my older brother and stave off malnutrition all at once. That sort of thinking drives Humana Games for Health (HG4H). In particular, the Horsepower Challenge.
The Horsepower Challenge (www.horsepowergame.com) is a pedometer-based game that focuses on combating obesity by taking something fun – playing a video game that’s both competitive and collaborative – and powering it by walking. We’ve launched challenges in schools and colleges and are gearing up for a nationwide challenge starting later this year. Participants are given high tech pedometers that sync wirelessly with special routers to upload steps to the Horsepower Game website. Once online the walkers can access their own Horse avatars that can be customized with virtual swag they purchase using points earned from walking. The kids’ classes and schools are represented as horse-filled school buses in a race around the world. The kids’ collective steps move the bus from country to country, and each landmark has detailed information about its history and culture. Teachers can tie the info into the curriculum and teach kids about healthy living. A sample game is available online at horsepowergame.com where you can see what the ex
perience is like for both teachers and students. While you’re there, you can check out our ‘behind the scenes’ section for Youtube Videos , Flickr Photos, tweets, blogposts and more. You can even follow your favorite student’s progress with our Horsepower Challenge Facebook application. We’re taking health and making it social.
I still love it when my mom feeds me; it makes me feel immature and blissfully youthful again. I don’t have any trouble finishing her scrumptious cuisine any longer, and I still read stuff at the table, but I’m a lot more thankful now for the force-feeding I went through as a kid. I don’t think I would be here if it wasn’t for healthy games.
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Photo By Flickr User Kali.Ma
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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
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