The threat of illness or death was more effective in motivating people to exercise than obesity risk a study found, in results that surprised researchers.

Previous studies, particularly on smoking cessation and risky sexual behaviour, found that messages related to mortality could be a barrier to acknowledging health risks, but this new research found it had the opposite effect.

The study asked 669 research participants to indicate how persuasive five types of messages were in terms of motivating them to work out at home with a fitness app.

It found that illness- or death-related messaging was more likely to be encourage exercise participation than obesity, social stigma or cost to the health service, regardless of gender.

Researchers said they expected obesity-related messages to be motivational, given that it is associated with the leading causes of global mortality.

The more users that users were motivated by illness and/or death-related messages, the more they were likely they are to have high outcome expectations, believe in their ability to perform a health behavior, and regulate themselves towards achieving the health goals.

An estimated 66% of Scottish adults aged 16 years and over met the guideline to do at least 150 minutes moderate or 75 minutes vigorous exercise each week in 2019.

“I did not expect only illness- and death-related messages to be significant and motivational,” said Kiemute Oyibo, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences in Canada, which carried out the research.

He said previous research had indicated that the public is likely to trust authority figures or bodies such as the World Health Organisation, which warns that 6% of the world’s death is caused by physical inactivity. 

Nearly everyone would have known a friend or family member who has passed away due to non-communicable diseases caused by physical inactivity such as hypertension, diabetes, or stroke.

“Not only were illness- and death-related messages motivational, they had a significant relationship with self-regulatory belief and outcome expectation, and there was no significant difference between males and females.

“This study is important because it helps us – especially designers of health apps – understand the types of messages that individuals, regardless of gender, are likely to be motivated by in persuasive health communication, and that are likely to influence individuals’ social-cognitive beliefs about exercise.”

Oyibo said future studies should consider other demographic characteristics besides gender, such as age, culture, race and education, to uncover the role they play in persuasive health communication.