HealthSeeker, the First Health-Centric Facebook Game, Encourages Healthy Eating and Diabetes Management

The Diabetes Hands Foundation and the Joslin Diabetes Center recently teamed up to develop the first health-centric Facebook game, HealthSeeker, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. The game encourages players to work toward various “Lifestyle Goals” by asking them to engage in “missions,” which are collections of small healthy “actions” (such as walking stairs instead of escalators) that can be incorporated into day-to-day life. Each mission is associated with a certain number of “Experience Points” and at least one of the four Lifestyle Goals: 1) Promoting healthy eating and nutrition; 2) Assisting in improving or maintaining diabetes control; 3) Promoting the achievement or maintenance of a healthy weight; and 4) Promoting heart health and reducing the risk of heart disease. Once players complete actions and missions, they gain Experience Points and advance levels, obtaining access to more advanced actions. For example, in the mission, “It’s a Numbers Game! The Monitoring Mission,” actions include checking blood sugar levels 2-3 hours after lunch and dinner to learn more about the effects of food on blood sugar levels, as well as keeping a food and activity log at least three days a week to be able to correlate food/activity with high or low readings. Another key component of the game is the ability to connect people through Facebook: users can invite, share, or compete with family and friends. If you have a Facebook account, you can easily access the game by clicking here and pressing “Play Now,” and if you don’t have a Facebook account, you can create one here. We applaud the Diabetes Hands Foundation for raising awareness of and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, especially in an environment where people can support family and friends.  –ST