Study: Calls help couch potatoes walk
(AP)
<p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071207/ap_on_he_me/fitness_walk_call"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20071206/capt.9a88e835fd3b48cbaa94ff46ce152760.fitness_walk_call_fx101.jpg?x=130&y=89&sig=TK.Z7TSyUs6Ar3ousct0FQ--" align="left" height="89" width="130" alt="Rita Horiguchi goes through her morning walk at Penitencia Creek Park in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. Researchers at Stanford University, who studied sedentary adults for a year, found that automated exercise reminder phone calls had about the same get-up-and-go power as calls from human counselors 'The recording had a very nice, kind of cheerleader voice. It sounded very natural,' said Horiguchi,, a study participant who was initially disappointed to be assigned to get computer calls. 'She would say things like, 'That's very good. I think you can go a little farther next week,' So I would do a little bit more.''(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)" border="0" /></a>AP - Fitness research shows that when a computer talks the talk, even couch potatoes can be persuaded to walk the walk. Researchers at Stanford University, who studied sedentary people for a year, found that automated exercise reminder phone calls had about the same get-up-and-go power as calls from human counselors.</p><br clear="all"/>

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