Virtual Reality is going to be the highlight of this year, as all the smartphone manufacturers are turning to this tech and are trying to bring it to their phones. Virtual reality provides immersive viewing experience to the users. But what if we told you that virtual reality may help you lose weight?! Well, it might not be that impossible after all, especially after some papers on the topic were published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.

virtual reality by apple
Image: theguardian.com

The papers suggest that we can actually use the development of virtual reality for fighting obesity. The VR technology can tell us how people perceive their bodies and also the way they perceive exercise. In a press release, Dr. Widerhold said:

Many chronic conditions are associated with a dysfunction of the stress system: obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes; hypertension; anxiety, depression, and insomnia; and pain syndromes. I am appreciative to the researchers and clinicians worldwide who are exploring innovative ways to utilize technology to provide more effective assessment and treatment methods to a greater number of individuals.

It is now know that emotional, psychological, and physiological factors cause obesity. Also included in the factors is binge eating. Some tests were conducted using augmented reality (AR), and it was found that people perceive the AR food as real, which can be used to come out with new methods to alter food cues. Also, VR can be used for distracting overweight people from listening to their body while exercising, and it has been practically proved that VR content makes people exercise more as they enjoy watching VR content.

A lot of companies have already started investing in the potential of augmented and virtual reality technology. Many exercise machines like VirZoom, Reality Suspender, etc. use VR to help people exercise more. We expect more and more companies to come ahead and join the virtual reality revolution in 2016.

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