Fun Way to Lose Weight: Turn Dieting Into an RPG

By Clive Thompson

A friend of mine recently slimmed down on Weight Watchers. She joined two months ago, and in just a couple of weeks, she'd shed 10 pounds. She'd been trying for a year to lose weight, but nothing worked -- until now.

Why did Weight Watchers work so well? For a really fascinating reason: because it isn't a normal diet. It's something more. Something fun.

It's an RPG.

The Weight Watchers program is designed precisely like a role-playing dungeon crawler. That's why people love it, stick to it and have success with it. And it points to the way that we could use game design to make life's drudgery more bearable.

Let me unpack this a bit. When I asked my friend to see how Weight Watchers works, she showed me the ingenious system. "The best part is the web tool," she said, pulling it up on her laptop.

When you first log in to Weight Watchers, it determines how much food you'll be allowed to eat that day, expressed as a number of "points." My friend gets 23 points per day. Each time she eats a piece of food, she enters it into the online database, and it calculates how many points she's used. A small apple is one point; a piece of fried chicken is seven points.

When she first started the program, she was stunned at how quickly she burned through her daily points. A single bagel was six points -- more than 25 percent of her daily quota. "How the hell am I going to do this without starving?" she wondered.

But pretty soon she learned to hack her daily eating to suit the system. She snacked on vegetables that took zero points -- like bell peppers -- or only one or two points, like a tasty brand of microwave popcorn. Then she'd save up the big points for a really decent dinner. Better yet, Weight Watchers assigns her an extra 35 bonus points per week that she can use if she goes over her daily limit. Or she can bank them for a big blowout restaurant meal on the weekend.

What makes this point-counting possible is Weight Watchers' elegant online tool. Type in any food you can think of -- including brand-name snacks or boxed meals -- and Weight Watchers has already calculated the points for you. If she makes a special sandwich at home, she can calculate the ingredients, save it with a custom name, and then drag and drop it into her day every time she eats one.

As I watched her poke around on the screen, managing inventory, calculating points, staying within her range, it hit me:

Weight Watchers is an RPG.

Think about it. As with an RPG, you roll a virtual character, manage your inventory and resources, and try to achieve a goal. Weight Watchers' points function precisely like hit points; each bite of food does damage until you've used up your daily amount, so you sleep and start all over again. Play well and you level up -- by losing weight! And the more you play it, the more you discover interesting combinations of the rules that aren't apparent at first. Hey, if I eat a fruit-granola breakfast and an egg-and-romaine lunch, I'll have enough points to survive a greasy hamburger dinner for a treat!

Even the Weight Watchers web tool is amazingly gamelike. It has the poke-around-and-see-what-happens elegance you see in really good RPG game screens. Accidentally snack on a candy bar and ruin your meal plan for the day? No worries: Just go into the database and see what spells -- whoops, I mean foods -- you can still use with your remaining points.

And those 35 extra points you get every week? They're like a special buff or potion -- a last-ditch save when you're on the ropes.

Indeed, I'm in awe of the sheer brilliance of Weight Watchers in adopting the word points as its metric for measuring food. The word immediately shoves the user into the semantics -- and fun -- of gameplay. You regard losing weight as an intriguing challenge, as opposed to a mere grind.

This puts me in mind of the talk that Jane McGonigal -- a brilliant and pioneering alternative-reality game designer -- gave at this year's South by Southwest conference. She argued that game designers ought to put their skills to use in the real world by reshaping dull, everyday activities into fun challenges. Why not a game that gives you points for walking your dog or jogging?

"Games are an incredible language and system. They should be everywhere," she said. "Why are we making games only for the bound pages for a computer screen or console? Why aren't we doing that to help people navigate and understand the world around us?"

She couldn't be more right. As McGonigal points out, there are already some witty attempts -- like Chore Wars, Wii Fit or Seriosity's system that tries to limit corporate e-mail overload by forcing people to "spend" virtual totems to send a message. I can think of tons of things I'd love to see turned into a game: doing my taxes, dealing with my inbox backlog, being stuck in traffic.

And this stuff is clearly possible, because if Weight Watchers can turn something as unpleasant as dieting into a playful activity, the sky's the limit.

Just ask my friend.

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Choosing the Right Sleep Medicines, or None at All

By PETER JARET

In Brief:

The safety of insomnia drugs has improved steadily over the past 30 years.

Choosing the right sleep medication is important; some are best at helping people fall asleep, while others help people stay asleep through the night.

Although medications are often recommended for acute insomnia, the first line of treatment for chronic insomnia is behavioral therapy.

Insomniacs know all too well what it’s like to lie awake in a tangle of sheets, the day’s worries parading through the brain as the minutes tick past with agonizing slowness. With studies linking troubled sleep to a variety of health problems including heart attacks and obesity, it’s enough to keep anyone awake at night.

An estimated 30 million Americans wrestle with chronic insomnia. Many suffer in silence. A 2005 National Sleep Foundation survey found that only one-third of patients with insomnia were asked by their primary care physicians about the quality of their sleep. Insomnia sufferers are equally unlikely to raise the issue with their doctors, studies show. And that’s too bad, experts say.

More and safer medications for sleep problems are available. And with a growing list to choose from, doctors can target prescriptions more precisely to specific complaints: trouble falling asleep, for instance, versus trouble staying asleep.

Remedies to help people fall asleep have been around for centuries, from laudanum in the 1800s to barbiturates more recently. “Unfortunately, most of them were addictive and potentially deadly,” said Dr. David Neubauer, associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “The history of sleep medications is really a tale of improving safety.”

A big advance came in the 1970s with the introduction of benzodiazepine drugs like Halcion, Xanax and Restoril. Although far safer than barbiturates, these sleep medications can still cause dependence and withdrawal symptoms like rebound insomnia. That prompted the Food and Drug Administration to approve them only for short-term use, usually no more than two weeks.

The same restrictions remained in place when a new generation of hypnotic drugs, known as nonbenzodiazepines or “Z” drugs, hit the market, starting with Ambien in the early 1990s.

“But it soon became evident that Ambien was really quite different, that it didn’t have the same withdrawal effects or dependency,” said Dr. Michael Thorpy, director of the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

In one recent study, researchers at Duke University Medical Center pitted Ambien-CR, a controlled-release formulation, against a placebo. After taking the drug for six months, volunteers reported no rebound insomnia when they stopped. Almost 90 percent said the drug helped them sleep, compared with just under 60 percent of the placebo group. Those on the active drug also reported less morning sleepiness and greater ability to concentrate during the day.

Newer nonbenzodiazepines like Lunesta and Sonata have no restrictions on how long they can be used. Even so, they remain on the federal list of controlled substances because of their potential for abuse.

The latest sleeping pill to win F.D.A. approval, called Rozerem, is the first sleeping pill not on that list, because there appears to be little chance it will be abused. The drug, which targets receptors in the brain for the sleep hormone melatonin, represents the first new class of sleep medication in several decades.

Safer sleep medicines are particularly welcome for people whose insomnia is caused by chronic pain or other persistent medical conditions, Dr. Thorpy said. “These are people who are never going to get a good night’s sleep without medication, and who may need hypnotics for the rest of their lives,” he said.

But those people are the exceptions — most insomniacs will not require pills indefinitely. Indeed, medications are generally considered the first-line treatment not for chronic sleep problems but for acute, short-term insomnia brought on by, say, unusual stress at work or the aftermath of surgery.

“Medications can help nip insomnia in the bud, and may prevent it from becoming a chronic problem,” said Wilfred Pigeon, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Sleep and Neurophysiology Research Laboratory at the University of Rochester.

Doctors are increasingly exploiting the differences among nonbenzodiazepines to tailor their prescription to particular sleep complaints.

Chief among these differences is a drug’s half-life, a measure of how long the active ingredients remain in the body, which can range from one to seven hours for the top sleep aids. If the problem is falling asleep, a drug with a short half-life, like Sonata or Rozerem, may be the best choice. If a patient complains about waking in the middle of the night, a medicine with a longer half-life, like Ambien-CR or Lunesta, may work best.

Although the F.D.A. has not yet approved sleeping pills specifically to be taken when people find themselves wide awake in the middle of the night, “many people take Sonata that way, because it has a very short half-life,” Dr. Thorpy said.

A 2006 study by researchers at the Clinilabs Sleep Disorders Institute at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York found that Sonata taken in the middle of the night caused less next-day sleepiness than Ambien, a drug with a longer half-life.

But even the newer sleep medicines have side effects, including reports of people having no memory of raiding the refrigerator or getting behind the wheel the night before. And because sleep medications address only the symptoms of insomnia and not the causes, many experts agree that the best approach when sleep problems persist is cognitive-behavioral therapy, which teaches strategies like better sleep habits and restricting the amount of time spent awake in bed.

“Drugs can help relieve people’s acute anxiety about being able to fall asleep or stay asleep,” Dr. Pigeon said. Behavioral approaches, which in practice are often combined with sleep drugs, “help make lasting changes in the quality of people’s sleep,” he said.

But changing sleep habits takes time, and a shortage of therapists trained in behavioral sleep medicine means that option is not available to everyone who might benefit. Harried physicians often find it easier to write out a prescription than to discuss sleep hygiene with patients, who likewise often seek the quick relief offered by pills.

Small wonder that pharmaceutical researchers are continually in search of novel insomnia drugs. One drug under development, for example, works in a new way to enhance slow-wave sleep, the deepest stage of slumber, with a goal of making people feel more refreshed in the morning.

“People come in complaining about their sleep,” Dr. Neubauer said. “But of course what we’re really looking for is better wakefulness.”

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25 Simple Tips to Improve Your Health and Fitness

The quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our health. You can have all the money in the world but if you go through your day feeling tired, fatigued or weak, you can’t be living your life to the fullest. Here are 25 quick tips to increase your health and fitness:

1. Diets are evil

Because of their temporary nature, diets don’t work. The people who do lose weight end up gaining it back again once they come off the diet. Instead of dieting, try to change your lifestyle. The changes you make to the way you eat should be sustainable for the rest of your life.

2. Get rid of the junk food

The easiest way to ensure that you don’t eat the food you shouldn’t is to make sure it isn’t available. Go through your fridge and toss out all the junk food. Next time you go grocery shopping, make sure that you don’t buy more.

3. Make use of healthy snacks

Having a snack between your meals is a good idea – as long as they’re healthy. Stock up on fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds. Have them readily available for whenever you might feel hungry. This means both at home and at the office.

4. All carbs are not created equal

While carbohydrates are a necessary part of your diet, there are some that do more damage than good. Avoid white carbs wherever possible and switch to the whole-grain alternatives.

5. Kill the caffeine addiction

Whether it’s coffee or soft drinks, caffeine is a drug. It’s a legal drug but a drug nonetheless. If you feel the need for a warm drink, choose an herbal tea instead.

6. Don’t forget the fat

Although trans-fats and the like should be avoided, you need to consume sufficient essential fatty acids. Make sure you are getting your omega-3 and omega-6 fats. These can be found in flax oil, nuts, and seeds.

7. Water is your friend

Your body is made up mostly of water. The problem is most people walk around dehydrated. If you are feeling thirsty, it’s too late: you are already dehydrated.

8. Breathe deeply

Oxygen is more important than water for your health. You can survive days without water but only minutes without oxygen. Most people today have very shallow breathing and are not getting enough air. Breathe deeply from your diaphragm to ensure your cells are well oxygenated.

9. Eat your veggies

Vegetables are rich in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that are essential to your health. Plus they have a cleansing effect on your body because of their alkaline pH.

10. Buy organic

Much of the commercial produce available today is devoid of nutritional value due to the depleted soil used in the industrial farming process. Organic produce also has the benefit of tasting a lot better. It might be more expensive but the benefit is well worth it.

11. Get friends that live healthy

The ongoing interaction with people who have the health you desire will be a positive influence on you. It is far easier to make the transition to healthy living when you have the social support.

12. Find healthy foods you enjoy

Just because you are eating healthy does not mean you need to suffer eating foods you hate. Look for healthy foods you enjoy and eat them more often. Find recipes online that are both healthy and enjoyable.

13. Take your lunch to work

Not only will brown bagging your lunch save you some money, it will help you avoid eating unhealthy foods for lunch. Take the extra time to make your lunch in the morning or make extra for dinner and eat the leftovers.

14. Eat out intelligently

For the restaurants that you visit frequently, find out the menu choices that are healthy options. This way, you can enjoy going out without jeopardizing your health.

15. Give yourself a cheat meal

Every now and then, it’s okay to indulge in something you know that it is not good for you but you enjoy. You shouldn’t deprive yourself. Just make sure that this only happens from time to time.

16. Sleep deeply

Get a good night’s rest every evening. Sleep in a quiet room that is dark for the appropriate amount of time for you. Most people have heard that you need 8 hours of sleep for proper health. In my experience, the amount of sleep I need varies with my eating habits and exercise. When I am living in a healthy manner, I find I feel fully energized with about 6 hours of sleep. Find the amount of sleep that is right for you.

17. Schedule exercise

Make your workout an important appointment for yourself. Schedule it at a specific time and place. Make it as important to you as a business meeting or doctor’s appointment.

18. Get a workout buddy

Sometimes your motivation to exercise wanes. When you have a partner that pushes you, it is far easier to take action. Working out with a friend also tends to make it a lot more fun.

19. Exercise aerobically

Cardiovascular exercise helps to burn fat and raises your metabolism. It also strengthens your heart and lungs. Do at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise at least 3 times a week.

20. Don’t forget to stretch

Stretching is important for your flexibility and the recovery of your muscles. Don’t stretch a cold muscle – it’s a good way to injure yourself. If you stretch before your workout, only do so after warming up. It’s always a good idea to stretch after a workout where your muscles are already warm.

21. Train for strength

Building muscle not only increasing your strength but also increases your metabolism. Strength training also stimulates the release human growth hormone in your body which slows the aging process. It’s important to engage in strength training 2-4 times a week.

22. Make exercise a habit

The easiest way to follow through and make sure that you exercise is to make it automatic. Exercise at the same time every day if possible.

23. Get a trainer

Although a personal trainer is not necessary, having one while you start out exercising can be very helpful. They can show the proper form for exercises and help motivate you to really push yourself.

24. Make changes gradually

If you’ve been living an unhealthy lifestyle for a long time, the challenge of healthy living can seem daunting. Instead of trying to change everything at once and getting overwhelmed, make sustainable changes gradually.

25. Don’t give up

If you fall back into unhealthy patterns, there is no reason to beat yourself up about it. Identify why the lapse occurred and learn from your mistakes. Move forward with this knowledge and continue to move towards health.

This article was written by Anand Dhillon. Anand writes about personal development at www.AnandDhillon.com. For more from Anand, read his series, How to Master Money & Wealth.

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