One lucky UK city has been chosen to take part in trials of a fitness tracker reward scheme in the hopes that people will begin to lead healthier lifestyles.
Wolverhampton is the selected area for the system to take place and those cooperating will be given cinema tickets and shopping vouchers.
The West Midlands city will be the site for the government's pilot scheme to assess whether or not people will lead better lifestyles when they're offered incentives.
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Residents who take part in the trial will be given a fitness tracker which is linked to an app. This, in turn, will encourage them to increase their step count and do things like eat more fruit and vegetables.
Healthier behaviours will see them collect points which they can cash in for cinema or theme park tickets, gym passes and clothes or food vouchers, the Department of Health and Social Care explained.
If the trial is a success then the scheme could be rolled out to the rest of the country.
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Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “This pilot is an exciting opportunity to see how we can empower people to make healthy changes to their lifestyle and I would encourage all adults in Wolverhampton to come forward and register their interest.”
According to The Mirror, Wolverhampton was chosen because a third of residents there are physically inactive.
On top of this, it's believed that only 48.5 percent of adults eat their five-a-day compared to a country-wide average of 55.4 percent.
The idea is said to be the brainchild of Sir Keith Mills who was the man behind Air Miles and the Nectar loyalty scheme.
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Those taking part in the pilot will apparently be handed wrist-worn devices that generate recommendations based on health. These could be things such as lowering portion sizes or eating more greens. All that fun stuff...
HeadUp Systems - a health tech company - has won the contract and will work with other companies to arrange appropriate rewards.
Ian Brookfield, Leader of the City of Wolverhampton Council, said: "We are already making significant progress in tackling physical inactivity, improving infrastructure and making environmental changes to enable people to be more active.
“We are delighted to be working with the Department for Health and Social Care and HeadUp on this important pilot to see whether offering incentives can help people make positive changes to improve their health and wellbeing.”
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