Many factors affect our physical fitness, health, and quality of life. In previous articles, we pointed out the importance of activating the community and government in encouraging people to engage in physical activity.1 We should also not forget that an external factor such as COVID-19 can significantly affect our daily routines and lifestyle.2 We learned many lessons during COVID-19, from our relationships and behaviors to society, to how physical exercise affects our health. We start to understand that one of the main future goals is to improve people’s health, and doing sports is undoubtedly one of the best ways to achieve that. There are various ways to improve the level of our physical fitness. As new times bring new demands, physical exercise should follow new trends. This is confirmed by the latest list of American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), which, through a survey of a considerable number of leading world experts, determines fitness trends, i.e., determines the direction of fitness development.3 This year, as it was in a couple of previous years, wearable technologies were in the first place. Also, at the top of the list were a home-based exercise in second place and outdoors activities in third. As we can see, there is a slow shift towards technology use in fitness promotion. Therefore, this article aims to determine the possibilities of the internet and modern technology in everyday physical and sport activity to promote healthy behaviors.

The Internet provides us with a lot of opportunities.

If you want to buy something, you can go to amazon or noon, order and pay online. We have less and less need to go to the marketplace, which is a trend that is becoming more and more prevalent, primarily due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic and as a consequence of social distancing. According to research results, online orders have skyrocketed in the last year, especially in the filed of health services.4 Also, if you are traveling, you no longer have to physically go to travel agencies as you have many booking engines available to use such as booking.com and skyscanner etc… So there are numerous benefits of technology, and anything you mention is very accessible, just a click away from ours.

But what about modern technologies, the internet, and healthcare?

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) has implications for our healthcare system, and it will probably be more widespread in the future. For example, “eHealth” enables us to use the emerging information and communication technology, especially the Internet, to improve health care.5 Bright example is the Japanese Initiative Society 5.0.6 The idea is to accumulate as much information as possible into an extensive database. Further, this big data would be analyzed by AI, and the analysis results will be sent to humans as a feedback. We will give one plastic example. If more than the usual number of people google search for cold and flu symptoms in a city, there is a high probability that a flu epidemic alert will follow. The AI system can process this information and send it to competent authorities, later organizing measures to combat and prevent an epidemic. It can be concluded that modern technologies follow human need to improve healthcare system.

So much has been done to make people’s lives easier. The cooperation of communities and governments has enhanced progress worldwide.7 Modern technologies and the Internet have led to the fact that the quality of life has never been higher than today.

However, the question arises as to whether this progress is reflected in encouraging sports activities and recreation of people. For example, is there a Booking.com or Amazon for sports activities?

We can mainly find content for individual sports activities or fitness centers through various Internet applications. Still, we rarely find information about group activities such as team sports, outdoor sports, water sports, etc. We do not have some application that acts like Facebook or Instagram but only for sports fans. No network or application connects people together based on their sport preferences. Let us take a simple example. If we need 10 people for mini-soccer, and three of those cancelled, we will not be able to maintain the desired activity. It is challenging to organize people and reconcile your daily obligations with theirs, making organizing such activities extremely difficult. Also, you do not want to spend much time surfing the Internet to find your favorite sports activity.

That’s where DUDI performs. One of the missions of the DUDI app is to unlock network effects for users to expand their sports communities. DUDI will bring you new social sports experiences: indoor, outdoor, air, and sea. Whether you like indoor sports or outdoor activities, DUDI simplified the process of connecting with people. It allows you to find people of the same interest, engage with your community, book your favorite sports experiences, and discover new hobbies. People can book their favorite sports activities and be more conceded using the DUDI app. All in one place, without wasting your time.

Exercise alone vs. exercising in the group?

Why all of the mentioned above is important? A lot has been done, but people often are not persistent in exercising despite having all the prerequisites for exercising. Take, for example, Dubai, which has provided almost perfect conditions. Each building has its gym and swimming pool, while on the other hand, obesity in the GCC region is at an all-pervading level.8 Although they are aware that exercise improves health, many people do not exercise for strange reasons. Something is missing to make people more committed to exercise. Is it possible that group activity is better than exercise alone in terms of adherence to exercise and to increase well-being, productivity, and quality of life?

Interestingly, according to research, almost 20% of people reported often feeling lonely and socially isolated.9 The fact that more and more people live alone is frightening.10 The experience and effects of isolation are amplified in the current physical distancing and quarantining requirements.11 This social disconnection has significant health effects where loneliness is linked with a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, anxiety, dementia, unhappiness, and premature death.12 One of the best ways to fight through perseverance is through sports activities and active communities. A study conducted on 136 participants showed that exercising in the groups resulted in being more effective, while people were calmer after the sessions.13 Also, male participants generally reported more positive psychological benefits. Group-based exercise improved adherence, social interaction, quality of life, physiological effectiveness, and functional effectiveness.14

In the end, we can conclude that the DUDI app is the pioneer in uplifting the sports and recreation experiences to a higher level. The mission is to create an extensive network of people and sports-related business and make all sports activities reachable to everyone. As we can see from the research cited above, group activity is more effective than exercising alone, and DUDI is the right place to find all sports activities you want. The change has begun; stay tuned.

About DUDI

DUDI is an all-sports social marketplace. Our mission is to empower sports communities and we aim to increase sports participation rate in the GCC region through community engagement and technology.

– copyrighted by DUDI Sports Technologies FZE

References

  1. https://dudiapp.com/gcc-and-physical-activity-a-new-future/
  2. https://dudiapp.com/covid-19-impact-on-sedentary-behavior-and-obesity/
  3. Thompson, W. R. (2022). Worldwide survey of fitness trends for 2022. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 26(1), 11-20.
  4. Du, H., Yang, J., King, R. B., Yang, L., & Chi, P. (2020). COVID‐19 increases online searches for emotional and health‐related terms. Applied Psychology: Health and Well‐Being, 12(4), 1039-1053.
  5. Eng, T. R. (2001). The eHealth landscape: a terrain map of emerging information and communication technologies in health and health care.
  6. https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/society5_0/index.html
  7. Durand, C. P., Andalib, M., Dunton, G. F., Wolch, J., & Pentz, M. A. (2011). A systematic review of built environment factors related to physical activity and obesity risk: implications for smart growth urban planning. Obesity reviews, 12(5), e173-e182.
  8. Hussain, H. Y. (2015). Obesity and Overweight among Dubai Population, Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors. Cross Sectional Analytical Study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 44(suppl_1), i133-i133.
  9. Stickley, A., & Ueda, M. (2021). Loneliness in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic: Prevalence, correlates and association with mental health. Psychiatry research, 114318.
  10. Cohen, P. N. (2021). The rise of one-person households. Socius, 7, 23780231211062315.
  11. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/10/Research2018_v5webfinal.pdf
  12. McGregor, J. (2017). This former surgeon general says there’sa ‘loneliness epidemic’and work is partly to blame. Washington Post, 10(04).
  13. Plante, T. G., Coscarelli, L., & Ford, M. (2001). Does exercising with another enhance the stress-reducing benefits of exercise?. International Journal of Stress Management, 8(3), 201-213.
  14. Burke, S. M., Carron, A. V., Eys, M. A., Ntoumanis, N., & Estabrooks, P. A. (2006). Group versus individual approach? A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity. Sport and Exercise Psychology Review, 2(1), 19-35.