Video games have been pioneering new techniques in weight loss for some time now, offering interactive experiences that allow you to exercise and even track calories burned.
But according to British scientists who have created a brain training game, you can now lose weight with the help of a computer game.
Researchers from the University of Exeter and Cardiff University in the UK are attempting to develop a 10-minute video game that controls your need to snack and helps you shed pounds.
The researchers say it can help you lose around 0.7kg (1.5lb) in one week and help some people consume 220 fewer calories a day.
To get the full benefit of the game, the researchers say you should play it four times in one week, and record your results.
Dr. Natalia Lawrence, along with her colleagues, designed the game in such a way to make unhealthy snacks look less appealing.
The game requires you to repeatedly avoid pressing on pictures of certain images such as unhealthy chips and biscuits, while responding to other images, such as fruit and vegetables. The idea is that it trains your brain to associate calorie-dense foods with "stopping."
Researchers believe that by playing this "brain training" game, individuals will be less likely to eat high calorie food when not playing.
“It is exciting to see the effects of our lab studies translate to the real world. Our findings suggest that this cognitive training approach is worth pursuing," Dr. Lawrence said.
“It is free, easy to do and 88 per cent of our participants said they would be happy to keep doing it and would recommend it to a friend."
Dr. Lawrence and her team are very pleased with their results and hope to explore more about training the brain. “These findings are among the first to suggest that a brief, simple computerized tool can change people’s everyday behavior,” said Lawrence in a press release.
“This research is still in its infancy and the effects are modest. Larger, registered trails with longer-term measures need to be conducted.”
