The idea of the intervention is to use the universal popularity of social media platforms to create fitness challenges that may raise physical activity primarily among teenage girls. Challenges such as the #DoitforDan five kilometre walk or run were the participant is required to walk or run a distance of five kilometres and post there time and then nominate five other friends to do the same and also to make a donation to the chosen charity. the benefits of challenges like this is that it can be done at the participants chosen pace so a starting level of fitness is not needed, there isn’t any equipment needed to complete the challenge and a clear progression is to try and improve the initial time the distance is completed. In terms of the health benefits that are possible from challenges such as this would be improved aerobic fitness, improved cardiovascular fitness, the increase In activity could cause a reduction in body fat percentage or Body mass index (BMI) and reduced risk of Heart disease. Research done by (Tuckman & Hinkle, 1986) showed than regular aerobic exercise not only increased measures of aerobic health but it also deemed effective in improve creativity among school goers. Another study carried out by (Roth, 1989) shows that even just one bout of aerobic activity of just twenty minutes reduces level of anxiety and stress.
    This reduction in stress and anxiety paired with the possible improvements in body composition could create more positive outlook of being physically active by improving not only the health of the individual but also mental health aspects such as body image and self-confidence. The idea of using social media challenges to do this has great potential popularity as the idea of nominating other friends to do it creates the possibility that for every one participant five more will take part. It could also become a social aspect if small groups of friends met up to participate in the challenge together. 

Implementing a challenge similar to the #DoitforDan would not cost any money to implement as social media is free to use. In terms of introducing the challenge into social media an idea would be to try and have an initial group of participants who will then nominate a number of others. Having an initial group like this would increase the frequency that it would be seen from some ones news feed. It would also increase the starting number of participants as not everyone who is nominated might participate. Starting a social media account for the initiative would also help as if it started to gain followers then other challenges can be started from this account. The social media accounts could also interact with other media “influencers” to further spread challenges. 

 

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 Trost, S. G. (2005). Discussion paper for the development of recommendations for children's and youth's participation in health promoting physical activity.

 

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 Van Kessel, G., Kavanagh, M., & Maher, C. (2016). A qualitative study to examine feasibility and design of an online social networking intervention to increase physical activity in teenage girls. PloS one, 11(3).

 

 Roth, D. L. (1989). Acute Emotional and Psychophysiological Effects of Aerobic Exercise. Psychophysiology.

 

 Tuckman, B. W., & Hinkle, J. S. (1986). An experimental study of the physical and psychological effects of aerobic exercise on schoolchildren. Health Psychology., 197-207.