A recently published study has found that email communication has a significant positive effect on a person's health and fitness.

According to the study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine (AJPM), using email to regularly prompt people to follow a healthier lifestyle resulted in measureable improvement in the person's health and exercise regimen.

The study, conducted by Kaiser Permanente and NutritionQuest and funded in part by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, measured the impact of a programme that delivered brief, regular emails that consisted of simple suggestions for healthier eating or improving exercise habits to a group of individuals. Compared to a control group, those in the email programme showed a significant increase in exercise adherence and healthier living.

The AJPM findings are consistent with a medical review published by the Centre for a Liveable Future at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Published in May 2009, the review (Periodic Prompts and Reminders in Health Promotion and Health Behaviour Interventions: Systematic Review), found 11 studies conducted since 2006 that showed that periodic communication with participants resulted in a positive impact on a person's health and fitness.

Retention Management has been providing a comprehensive email communication service to fitness centres since 2003. The foundation of the service has been an automated personalised email programme that analyses each member's specific attendance pattern and then uses that data to assist the member in maintaining or developing a consistent usage pattern. These usage-based emails also include the latest health and wellness information designed to assist each member in leading a healthier lifestyle. The service also includes a new member integration programme, marketing blast emails and prospect sales emails.

"This new study, along with those already published, further validates how our service not only assists members in achieving their goals, but provides our customers with a distinct operational advantage over their competitors. Members who achieve results are not only happier members but retained members," said Richard Ekstrom, President and Founder of Retention Management.