Resistance training could help me sleep better. Building incentives will help me exercise more. Good friendships will help me live longer.
I spend a lot of my days reporting on new research findings in the health and wellness field, vetted by outside experts, usually including advice on how to live better.
But this time, I don’t have the results to offer –– you do.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Alberta are looking for a large pool of participants for a new study. With CNN having covered so many studies like this one, the researchers are hoping readers will want to participate — and CNN is following along to report on the research process from the ground floor.
All you have to do is take a daily quiz on the research team’s website to assess what you know about healthy habits.
“This is actually an opportunity for folks to contribute to research by joining our website,” said lead researcher Dr. Katie Mehr, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Alberta. “After the study concludes and we’re able to analyze all the data, we will share what we found with the readership.”
The quiz is just two questions, every day for 30 days, that are designed to help participants learn more about their well-being in a quick, easy and fun way. The research requires those who participate to be over 18 years old, be a US resident and have a US phone number that can receive texts.
WANT TO JOIN ME? You can sign up for the quiz here on the researchers’ website and get started right away.
Researchers can’t share exactly what questions they are investigating because that could risk skewing the results. But the study team hopes the experience will be a way for people to engage with science and pull back the curtain on how the questions about human behavior are answered, Mehr said.
“Sometimes there’s these questions where, if we could get a large sample of people who were dealing with this in their life to engage science, we could learn a lot,” said behavioral researcher Dr. Katy Milkman, James G. Dinan Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “Sometimes it’s hard to figure out where do you meet those people.”
This study is “a fun opportunity for people to be part of what they’re constantly reading and … get to be part of the news,” Milkman said. “They will change the news like citizen scientists.”
What’s in it for me?
Focusing on what behaviors can actually help is an important first step toward a healthier life, Milkman said. That is especially true in a time when science isn’t at its most popular and influencers often share information not backed by research.
You might not know that the research suggests that the Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest ways of eating, but you heard from an influencer that cutting out carbs and only eating red meat is key to longevity.
If you set a goal of bettering your nutrition but don’t have the information to guide you toward the best path to accomplish it, you might be working against yourself, Milkman said.
You may think you know what you need to do to achieve your health goals and are just struggling with implementing the change, Milkman said. But these upcoming results may help you do an even better job working toward increasing your health and longevity.
Get specific about your goals
Once you have the information about where you can make improvements to your health, the next step is to define your goal, Milkman said.
Most people would say they would like to be healthier, but an effective goal — say one more hour of sleep each night or two sessions of strength training per week — is more specific than that, she added.
If you know you want more balanced nutrition, set a goal with the kinds of food you want to incorporate, and then make a realistic plan that covers how many meals or how many days a week you will build them into your routine, Milkman said.
“Ideally, those goals even include when you will do it, where you will do it, and how you will get there,” she said.
Following through on your plans
A lot of people get tripped up in the follow-through, so using strategies to keep you on track is critical, Milkman said.
In her research, Milkman has found that figuring out a way to make the behavior you’re incorporating instantly gratifying, rewarding and fun helps you look forward to it instead of harboring a sense of dread.
“We often focus too much on those long-term results,” she said.
One method is temptation bundling, in which you pair your goal behavior with an activity you enjoy –– like watching your favorite TV show while you are on the elliptical, Milkman said.
“Now, instead of dreading my workout, there’s a reason to look forward to it,” she said.
Making your goal behavior more social can also help you stick to it, Milkman added. People are more likely to get to the gym at 3 p.m. if they are meeting a friend there and know they will have someone to talk with to stay motivated.
Timing your goal setting with a moment that feels like a “change of chapter” can also be helpful, and those times can include the new year, a birthday or the start of the school year –– whether or not you have kids going to school, Mehr said.
“Those new beginnings tend to be moments when we’re more willing to sort of step back and think big picture,” Milkman said. “It is a fresh-start moment in the fall.”