A new study has that physical activity and exercise are 'contagious' because of social media. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that people who details of their exercise patterns and achievements on social media sites and encourage other people to more active. Researchers the exercise routines of 1.1 million runners over a period of five years. They at the geographic location of the runners, their social network use, distance, time, pace and the calories they . The researchers that sharing personal exercise data via social media can others to exercise more, exercise harder and do so more competitively.
The journal 'Nature Communications' has the research. The study detailed accounts of how inspiring it can be to about a friend's physical activity. Researchers said: "On average, an additional kilometre run by friends can someone to run an additional three-tenths of a kilometre, and an additional ten minutes run by friends can inspire someone to run three minutes longer." The study social media the performance of runners who had a little slower or less in shape, and of those who were signs of overtaking a friend's performance. Researcher Sinan Aral said: "In general, if you more, it is likely that you can your friends to run more."
