Towards encouraging a healthier lifestyle and increased physical activity – An app incorporating persuasive design principles

Abstract

The number of young adults becoming overweight leading to obesity is on an unceasing rise. Attempts have been made to tackle this epidemic throughout the UK through varied technology platforms including video games and more recently through ubiquitous mobile applications. With a significant increase of smartphone usage, mobile applications have become the ideal platform to reach out to young adults. This paper addresses the obesity epidemic and the fundamental value of healthy living through the development of an app which encourages eating a balanced diet and particularly increasing the time spent exercising by incorporating it into an individual’s daily routine. It focuses on tackling the common barriers currently preventing individuals from increasing their level of physical activity and aims to provide a solution to the problem domain by implementing persuasive design principles, models and frameworks in an android mobile application to successfully change or modify behaviors and attitudes within young adults to increase the time spent on exercise and a healthy lifestyle.