The RYHEALTH Challenge app has just been launched to promote healthy lifestyle habits among children and adolescents (ages 6 to 17). The mobile application – available for registration and download at www.ryhealth-challenge.com – was developed as part of the European project “RYHEALTH – A holistic approach to rocking your health”, coordinated by the University of Coimbra (UC).

Users of the RYHEALTH Challenge (registration must be completed by a parent or legal guardian) are encouraged to complete various challenges under three categories: “Sport & Fun,” “Healthy Eating,” and “Outdoor Creativity.” Examples include “do five different exercises (squats, push-ups, planks, jumps, and running) and record your effort,” “create a healthy snack and take a photo of the result,” or “capture tiny details like water droplets, leaf textures, or insects.” For each completed challenge, users earn a badge.

The goal is to encourage children and adolescents to adopt healthier lifestyle habits. “Throughout the implementation of the RYHEALTH project, we realised the need for greater family involvement in healthy habit promotion activities. That’s why we developed the RYHEALTH Challenge app – to actively engage families,” explains project coordinator Paula Tavares.

“This app offers challenges focused on physical activity, balanced nutrition, and interaction with and respect for nature – all to be completed in real life and with family. Once the activity is completed, users return to the app to receive a badge. The more badges collected, the more challenges completed – and the closer one gets to adopting a healthy lifestyle,” says the professor at the Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education at UC. She adds that the app “also allows users to invite friends and create a fun competition towards a fuller, healthier, and happier life.”

Focused on promoting healthy lifestyle habits – including physical activity, balanced nutrition, sustainability, respect for nature, and psychological wellbeing – as a means to prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, and some types of cancer), the “RYHEALTH – A holistic approach to rocking your health” project brings together six partners from four countries. It received over one million euros in European funding through the EU4Health programme.

At the University of Coimbra (the project’s coordinating institution), the RYHEALTH team also includes Beatriz Gomes, Maria João Campos, Paulo Nobre, Elsa Silva, and Aristides Machado Rodrigues, all professors at the Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education.