Shape up with email

One of the great features of most desktop email clients is the capability to set up tasks and reminders.  I use this feature in Outlook all the time to help me stay on track with important business meetings and deadlines.  I even place email pop-up reminders on my work calendar to help me remember personal dates like doctor’s appointments, parent teacher conferences and my boss’ birthday.  But I’ve never thought about how reading my email could keep me ‘fit as a fiddle’.  According to a recent article in Time, the American Journal of Preventative Medicine has just published a study indicating that simple email reminders urging healthy eating and physical activity significantly influence behavior for a healthier lifestyle.   Out of 787 office workers who participated in this study, 351 email recipients chose to receive email reminders for one of three focus areas: boosting physical activity, increasing fruit and vegetable intake or decreasing sugars and saturated fats. Barbara Sternfeld, senior research scientist at Kaiser Permanente and the study’s lead investigator indicates that, “these quick alerts remind your brain of the goals you’ve set for yourself”.  What is interesting is that participants who received the physical activity emails increased their exercise regimen by an hour a week over a 16 week period. The study, conducted by Kaiser Permanente and NutritionQuest and funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also determined that participants who focused on a healthy diet reduced the saturated and trans fats they consumed by more than 1 g a day.

So for someone like me who makes a regular visit to the break room for a morning cup of coffee and a Jumbo Honeybun, a daily reminder to take a brisk walk around the block not only motivates me to get in better shape but it also saves me 75 cents on my dollar. Think about how you can set goals for yourself by using your client’s reminder feature.  Most of us already know what we need to do, but a little reminder never hurts.

Note:  IMail Server fully integrates with Outlook or your favorite desktop client