It seems like a strange and counter-intuitive concept but research concludes that a healthy, attractive avatar representing you online could actually motivate you to make improvements to your non-virtual self!

Read on:

Jesse Fox, a researcher at Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab, discovered that when subjects created computerized avatars based on their own appearances, watching these avatars model good behaviors could help the subjects overcome their own weaknesses.

For example, when subjects saw images of their digital doppelgangers running on treadmills, they were motivated to exercise after leaving the lab. On average, they did one more full hour of exercise than subjects who had been shown lazy lookalike avatars or non-lookalike exercising avatars.

“If they saw a person they didn’t know, they weren’t motivated to exercise. But if they saw themselves, they exercised significantly more,” said Fox.

In addition to guiding participants to make better nutritional and exercise choices, Fox believes that the avatar program could also be used to help people with self-esteem issues, such as anorexic women. These women could be paired with a healthy-figured avatar, and learn to become comfortable in this body in the virtual world while recovering from their disease. We can see a whole range of other possibilities, from quitting smoking to adapting to better work habits.

Source: Gimundo

This is a bit of a long shot, but the underlying premise remains rich: sometimes changes in your life can be made by using an “outside-in” approach and role modeling. In other words, this doesn’t give you an excuse to spend more time on the computer. You could also draw a healthier, happier you and hang it above your desk!