MAYBE WE SHOULD HAND OUT BASIC FITNESS TRACKERS to everyone — as long as the individual puts one on, they tend to walk more. Now the great part: We walk more if we wear a pedometer, whether we look at the devices or not. Pedometers boost step count.
Regular physical activity is one of the most important ways to improve your health. Being less sedentary (for those who do not have restrictive physical disabilities) can add health benefits to all, regardless of age, sex, ethnicity or race, or current fitness level. The benefits accrue while moving, immediately after physical activity, and longer term.
Here is some context for my beating the drum for avoiding being sedentary: Approximately half of all American adults — 117 million — have at least one potentially preventable chronic disease.
Physical activity has benefits for seven of the ten top chronic diseases. Inactivity translates to approximately US $117 billion per year in health costs.
Physical activity guidelines
Capable adults should avoid remaining sedentary. Doctors like me can easily spend most of the day sitting, as can many office workers. Are you a computer programmer? Accountant? You know what I mean.
Health guidelines recommend that adults do the following:
- At least 150 minutes 92 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (five hours) per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Alternatively, aim for 75 to 150 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Preferably, we should spread aerobic training throughout the week.
- You may gain additional health benefits by doing more than 300 minutes (five hours) of moderate-intensity physical activity each week.
- Adults should also perform muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity involving all major muscle groups two days per week.
Here’s what I mean by aerobic (endurance or cardio) activity: Move your large muscles rhythmically for a sustained period. Walk briskly (at least a 2.5 miles per hour pace), bicycle, run, dance, or swim. Your heartbeat and breathing rate will increase, and your cardiorespiratory fitness should improve over time.
Your health benefits rise as you increase from 150 to 300 minutes weekly. I walk to decrease my risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers. And, of course, there are psychological benefits to my Forrest Gump-like behavior.
“That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I’d just run across the great state of Alabama. And that’s what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason, I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going.” — Forrest Gump.
Sedentary people have a higher risk of suffering from numerous health disorders, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers (including colorectal, uterus, and lung).
While following the physical activity guidelines can undo the increased sitting-related mortality risk, most individuals in the United States don’t come close to meeting the guidelines.
Don’t forget resistance activities.
I suspect most people don’t do muscle-strengthening activities. Resistance exercises can improve bone strength and muscle fitness. For those losing weight, resistance training can help you maintain muscle mass.
Harvard has recommendations regarding resistance exercise training:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/7-tips-for-a-safe-and-successful-strength-training-program
Finally, flexibility exercises are an important part of fitness. Such maneuvers improve the ability of your joints to move through a full range of motion. While stretching can improve flexibility, the time you spend working on flexibility does not count toward the recommended physical activity volumes described above.
Pedometers improve activity
Researchers recently reported the results of a study designed to determine how being monitored affects an individual’s step counts. Here are the results:
People wearing a pedometer walked an average of 318 more steps daily than those without a tracker.
Moreover, the device-wearing participants walked this much more than non-device folks, even if the persons wearing the device could not see the step count.
Let’s look at the ingenuity of the study design. No researchers have historically proven that pedometers are associated with increased walking volume. The challenge? First, one needs to know how much you walked before donning the pedometer, and 2) we need to compare the pedometer group with randomly chosen folks who don’t wear a pedometer (yet baseline measurements require a pedometer).
Some of the subjects had a pedometer without a display. After two weeks, the researchers accessed step count data from the iPhones and discovered that pedometer use was associated with higher step counts.
Speaking to MedicalXpress, study author and BYU Marriott School of Business (USA) professor Bill Taylor explains that “Humans are hardwired to respond to what is being measured because if it’s being measured, it feels like it matters.”
In summary, pedometers boost step counts, even if you don’t look at the device. Thank you for joining me today.
The information I provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this blog.
