AI+VR Exercise System Helps Overweight Teenagers Lose 4.28kg and Significantly Boost Cognitive Function!}
A VR-based AI exercise system successfully helped overweight teens lose weight and improved their cognitive abilities, offering a safe, immersive, and personalized intervention method.
Over 30% of overweight teenagers worldwide are caught in a vicious cycle of metabolic disorder and cognitive decline: excess body fat leads to abnormal liver enzymes, high blood lipids, and weakened brain functions like olfactory recognition and working memory.
Traditional sports interventions often suffer from low compliance (<40%) due to issues like discomfort among trainers, low engagement, and lack of personalized guidance.
To change this, a team led by Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine developed a VR exercise system called REVERIE (Real-world Exercise and VR-based Educational Training). It uses deep reinforcement learning to train transformer-based virtual coaches that provide immersive and effective exercise guidance.
This research was published on June 23, 2025, in Nature Medicine.
REVERIE System
The Chinese name "Lingjing" (灵境) leverages a two-stage, template-driven, feedback-oriented deep reinforcement learning strategy to empathetically guide users in learning football and table tennis skills.
A controlled trial involved 227 overweight teenagers, comparing REVERIE (VR exercise) with traditional sports and control groups, assessing metabolic, physical, psychological, and cognitive outcomes.
Illustration: Overview of REVERIE system development and evaluation.
System Evaluation
In the control group, REVERIE led to an average weight loss of 4.28kg, comparable to the 5.06kg in the sports group. Exploratory analysis showed significant improvements in cognition, olfactory function, and working memory.
Post-intervention, olfactory thresholds, recognition, and discrimination scores (TDI) increased significantly, especially under high working memory load, indicating enhanced sensory and cognitive functions.
Illustration: Changes in multi-omics features following physical and REVERIE interventions.
The team conducted in-depth multi-omics analyses at baseline and post-intervention, revealing significant changes in lipidomics, metabolomics, and gut microbiota after REVERIE, with more pronounced protein changes after traditional exercise.
This study aims to provide a safe, immersive, and empathetic VR exercise intervention for adolescents, with potential to enhance cognitive functions beyond physical activity.