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Screen-based leisure, the rise in working from home, and other increasingly laidback activities are worrying health authorities who now see sedentary lifestyles as one of the two major health challenges of the century, along with mental health.

These problems are not without link, in light of the many studies that report exercise as being beneficial to fight against stress, anxiety or depression.

To this end, the World Health Organization and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development recently recommended a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week to prevent 11.5 million new cases of non-communicable diseases by 2050, including cases of depression.

And contrary to popular belief, you don’t necessarily need to turn to intense or expensive forms of exercise. If practised regularly, walking can be enough to reduce this type of disease. So what can be done to motivate people to get moving?

Every step counts

Exercise should probably be a reward enough in itself, at least in terms of the effects it has on physical and mental health.

But there’s a world of difference between theory and practice. This has given rise to a new kind of app that rewards users with gifts or money when they engage in physical activity.

Launched late last year, Macadam is among those that encourage people to get moving to obtain rewards of all kinds. Somewhere between a pedometer and a video game, the app allows users to transform their daily steps into coins, a virtual currency that they can then use in several ways: exchange it for euros, benefit from promotions at partner stores, or support community projects.

All this is accompanied by challenges for users to take part in alone or with friends. The goal is to get people moving more, but also to favour walking over other means of transportation when possible.

According to figures shared by the app’s founders, it has proved a great success. More than a million users signed up within just a few weeks – although it’s unclear whether they are really active on the app – and they walked 25% more.

Available in France, Italy and Spain, the application is already planning to roll out to the rest of Europe, as well as the United States.

‘Move to earn’ revolution

Macadam is not the only application rewarding people for their steps: there are countless programs that “pay” users to exercise.

This is the case with WeWard, which offers Wards for steps taken on a daily basis. These can then be exchanged for euros, gifts or charity donations.

Similarly, Running Heroes, Lifecoin and Sweatcoin are based on the same principle, with challenges and multiple rewards available.

Other applications are similar to veritable video games. The best known is Stepn, based on Web3, which first offers players the chance to buy NFT sneakers – so they have to invest to earn.

Thanks to these shoes, users can then earn tokens – in cryptocurrency – according to the levels completed and the activities performed. But the use of tokens means this isn’t entirely risk-free.

The concept is a little different with Charity Miles, which lets users get moving to support a charity chosen at the time of registration. All activities, from running to walking, cycling to dancing, then count towards charity fundraising.

Evidently, it’s not about getting rich with these applications that only allow you to earn a few euros per month, maybe a few dozen for the most active users. Still, it can be a significant source of motivation for those who want to make money while taking care of their health.

New versions could even be envisaged, allowing steps to be exchanged for daily services, or even coaching sessions, potentially taking the experience to another level. Now we just have to wait for these apps – or variations of them – to become readily available in Malaysia.