PLT Consumer Survey Examines Role of Cognitive Health in Active Lifestyles

PLT Health Solutions has announced the release of a new consumer survey on how cognitive states and mood can impact sports and their levels of activity. The report, Feeling Active, includes survey responses from 546 participants from the U.S., Germany, France, the U.K., and Italy.

The survey covered topics including mental energy, stress, sleep, focus, and how it impacts sports and active lifestyles. It also included issues such as motivation, mood, goals, and the impact of injuries, along with attitudes toward dietary supplements, and cognitive support solutions for support in sports/active contexts.

The goal of the research is to inform the development of sports and active nutrition products, PLT reported. The study was driven by genuine grassroots consumer interest on the topic, said Steve Fink, vice president of marketing for PLT Health.

“PLT has been active in helping to deliver emotional and cognitive benefits into sports nutrition formulations for nearly a decade with our Zembrin Sceletium tortuosum ingredient,” Fink said. “I’d like to say that we invented the concept of adding cognitive support to sports nutrition products, but it wouldn’t be true. It’s an idea that we ‘discovered.’ In the early 2010s, we came across comments about ‘this great ingredient that really improves my workout’ on bodybuilding bulletin boards. On their own, consumers were buying and talking about Zembrin and taking it alongside their pre-workout supplements. It made perfect sense to us, so we started talking to our sports nutrition customers about the idea of adding mood and focus benefits to their sports nutrition formulations. PLT’s cognitive health portfolio has grown to eight ingredients today, six of which offer benefits that can have an impact on the sports/active experience in a targeted way. The Feeling Active research was our attempt to understand what consumers really want and to help inspire innovation in the category.”‘

Key Findings

Overall, 62% of the respondents said exercise is “self-care,” while 18% regard it as a hobby, 15% think it is a chore. People between the ages of 45 and 59 were most likely to see exercise as a chore (19%), while three-quarters of those over 60 view it as self-care.

The highest perceived barriers to exercise were inadequate energy or sleep (42%), lack of motivation (40%), time constraints (38%), and stress (31%).

The main motivation for exercise is to be healthy and fit (59%). About a fifth are motivated by looking good (21%), and the same number said that feeling healthy and looking good are equally important.

A majority of participants (69%) said that they would be focused on actions to improve mood and mental resilience when injured. Nearly everyone (94%) said that the idea of a dietary supplement promoting a healthier relationship between the mind and body was appealing.

These results suggest an opportunity for cognitive support tailored to the sports nutrition market, said Fink.

“Today’s sports/active formulation is more complex and sophisticated than ever, with consumers looking for a broader range of benefits,” said Fink. “Increasingly, they are looking to branded, science-backed ingredients to power those formulations. We hope that Feeling Active can help sports and active nutrition consumer products companies innovate faster and more successfully.

The full report can be accessed here.