下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
来自400,000名用户的数据表明，切实的激励措施会促使人们锻炼更多
测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：
participants[pɑ:'tɪsɪpənts] n.参加者
incentive[ɪnˈsentɪv] n.激励aversion[əˈvɜ:ʃn] n.厌恶
阅读马上开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用的时间，对照下方的参考值就可以评估出您的英文阅读水平。
---------------------------------------
A global study conducted for a large insurance company with tech giant Apple has concluded that people are prepared to dramatically increase their exercise levels if they are offered tangible rewards.
The insight, gleaned from data generated from 400,000 people, has implications for public policy at a time when cash-strapped health systems are struggling to curb demand for healthcare.
Adrian Gore, founder of Vitality Insurance, which commissioned the survey, suggested the findings also made the case for financial services companies adjusting their business models to incentivise clients.
“The industry has a remarkable opportunity to make society healthier,” he said.
Under its own “shared value” approach, Vitality rewards subscribers who look after their health by, for example, reaching a certain step-count target, with benefits such as a Starbucks coffee or discounted gym membership — or, in the case of the new study published on Wednesday, access to an Apple Watch.
Few insurance companies are using fitness devices in the same way as Vitality, but many are employing technology to incentivise good behaviour or cut claims. In the US, John Hancock, a life insurance provider, worked with Vitality to offer both Apple Watch and Fitbit devices to its life insurance policyholders, while Fitbit has also struck a deal with Humana, a US health insurer, for its coaching app.
Car insurance companies have also employed black boxes in cars to monitor driving and advise customers on how to drive better, while some home insurers send their customers devices called leakbots, which can detect leaks before too much damage is done.
Participants in the Vitality study paid an upfront sum — £99 for an Apple Watch 4 or £9 for an Apple Watch 3 — then a monthly payment of up to £12.50, depending on how much exercise they took. For those logging the most activity, there was no monthly charge.
The approach invoked “loss aversion”— in this case the danger of losing free access to the watch — which was a more powerful driver than the desire to acquire a benefit in the first place, said Mr Gore.
Rand Europe, a not-for-profit research institute that was commissioned to conduct the study, found that over a two-year period the group using Apple Watches saw an average 34 per cent sustained increase in activity, or 4.8 extra days of activity a month which Vitality estimates translates into two extra years of life. This was defined as some form of daily exercise or “active calorie burn”.
Activity increased across all participants — who came from the UK, US and South Africa — regardless of their initial state of health, age or gender, said Vitality.
Matt Hancock, UK health secretary, will attend the formal launch of the report in London on Wednesday. Earlier this month, he gave a speech calling for the UK’s taxpayer-funded National Health Service to “focus more on prevention” rather than treating diseases.
But it remains unlikely that the NHS and other cash-strapped public health systems could afford to offer Apple Watch-style incentives to patients.
“How you build [incentives] into an NHS or whatever, those are complexities that I think have to be thought through,” said Mr Gore. “But we’re trying to pave the way [to show] that this is do-able.”
Apple, which recently established a network of medical clinics for its employees, has big ambitions in the healthcare sector, including using the iPhone for electronic medical records and clinical research.
Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, said Vitality and RAND’s results were “an exciting indicator of how much more we can achieve”.
The Apple Watch Series 4 was recently given clearance — one step down from full approval — by the US medicines regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, for its three heart-monitoring capabilities: heart rate alert, heart rhythm detection and personal electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor. It has also been used as a tool in medical research.
请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：
A. Exercise is in fact good to health.
B. Exercise is not good for health.
C. Apple Watch helps improve people's health.
D. Rewards help incentivize people to excercise more.
答案 (1)
A. Reward share holders who invest for the long term
B. Reward subscribers who buy Apple Watch
C. Reward subscribers who look after their health
D. Reward subscribers who share their information on social platforms
答案 (2)
A. People are willing to take more risks when profit margin reaches 300%.
B. The propect of success outweighs the fear of loss.
C. The propect of success equals the fear of loss
D. The danger of losing outweighs the desire to acquire a benefit in the first place.
答案 (3)
A. All UK tax-payer should get an Apple Watch for free.
B. Apple Watch should be funded by public fund because it benefits the public.
C. Apple should spend more money in medical research.
D. UK’s National Health Service should focus more on prevention rather than treating diseases.
答案 (4)
(1) 答案：D解释：A global study conducted for a large insurance company with tech giant Apple has concluded that people are prepared to dramatically increase their exercise levels if they are offered tangible rewards.
(2) 答案：C解释：Under its own “shared value” approach, Vitality rewards subscribers who look after their health by, for example, reaching a certain step-count target, with benefits such as a Starbucks coffee or discounted gym membership — or, in the case of the new study published on Wednesday, access to an Apple Watch.
(3) 答案：D解释：The approach invoked “loss aversion”— in this case the danger of losing free access to the watch — which was a more powerful driver than the desire to acquire a benefit in the first place, said Mr Gore.
(4) 答案：D解释：Matt Hancock, UK health secretary, will attend the formal launch of the report in London on Wednesday. Earlier this month, he gave a speech calling for the UK’s taxpayer-funded National Health Service to “focus more on prevention” rather than treating diseases.