The Problem

European recommendations state that children and adolescents aged 5–18 years should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily most days of the week (activity that noticeably
increases the heart rate and breathing rate) . However, the HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) study of 12.5–17.5-year-olds reported that under one-third of European girls and under two-thirds of boys achieve this (Ruiz JR, et al. 2011). It is estimated that one third of (34%) the adult population is obese, and the number raises to 68% if obese and overweight are combined (Flegal et al., 2010).
This is the result of reduced physical activity due to the modern way of living (remote controls, elevators, automated cleaners, etc.) and starts early in life as approximately one in five adolescents and teenagers are overweight (Ogden et al., 2010).

Proposed Solution

SUGAPAS, will support the “Europe 2020 strategy” that stresses the need for transforming educational content for instruction and training in a way that engages, motivates and immerses people to develop personal experiences of constructing their learning experiences.
SUGAPAS’s approach contributes to this by highlighting the following innovative aspects:
– The introduction and application of training content in Schools (and outside of them) for developing of students’ awareness about Physical Activity (PA) in a gamified manner. Thus, SUGAPAS will propose teaching as well as physical training via mobile serious games, and underlying mechanics and dynamics (i.e. goals, challenges, levels, progress bars, scoring mechanisms, dialogues, avatars for coaching / mentoring about how to be more active in everyday life, to fulfil the international guidelines of PA for health, train in a specific sport). SUGAPAS designs, develops and implements two (2) serious game for (i) PA; (ii) nutrition habits & healthy lifestyle. All games will encompass rules, goals and free-play for young people to be trained on how to conceptualize abstract theoretical aspects of physical activity added value, good nutrition habits, healthy lifestyle and sports.
– The exploitation of school oriented, safe and online communities focused on better health and adopting physical activity. SUGAPAS will build its community of practice as a European School Physical Activity Community for students and teachers, in order to achieve as much higher impact as possible.