Greed inspires healthy lifestyle changes

Greed is good when it comes to encouraging people to give up bad habits or adopt good ones.

That's what drove people to quit smoking or lose weight in experiments conducted by US health incentives expert Dr Kevin Volpp, who is visiting Australia.

The initial behaviour change was relatively easy to achieve, however.

It's more difficult to find ways to sustain long-term changes, says the University of Pennsylvania professor.

"People tend to look at the present more than the future.

"They want instant benefits and make emotional decisions."

Dr Volpp is a speaker at an AIA Australia forum to mark the launch of its Vitality health and wellness program.

The program, which was developed in South Africa and is used in the US, UK, China and Singapore, encourages long-term adoption of healthy behaviour.

In Australia, AIA will reward clients for exercising, eating healthy food and for having health screens.

"Overseas research shows Vitality has reduced healthcare costs, lowered hospital admissions and increased productivity at work," says AIA Australia CEO Peter Crewe.

In Dr Volpp's smoking experiment, his team randomly selected smokers to receive a $US750 incentive for quitting.

They received the first $US100 for attending a cessation program. Then $US250 if they stopped smoking in the first six months and a further $US400 if they abstained for 12 months.

The group achieved a 14.7 per cent quit rate, significantly higher than the five per cent achieved by a control group.

"This is a carrot-based approach in which people would get a reward for engaging in healthy behaviour."

But the stick approach could also be effective. "The impact of taking a dollar away is roughly double the affect of gaining a dollar."

Another program that worked was a weight-loss program in which people put up their own money.

"We doubled their money if they met their goal and they forfeited it they didn't."

About half the incentivised group achieved their goal over 16 weeks, while only 10 per cent of a control group did.

The challenge is that people tend to regain their weight when the incentives end unless they have a sustainable way of encouraging good habits.

"In smoking the prospects for sustained results are much better than for obesity because of the way smoking is discouraged by society," says Dr Volpp.

It's much easier to be an ex-smoker than to be someone who is trying to avoid fattening food.