Shopping is our Cardio: Do you have a pedometer?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Do you have a pedometer?

Pedometer: Pedometers count steps. Step counting is a great way to keep active, aiming to increase your steps by 2000 per day towards a goal of 10,000 steps per day. The best pedometers can calculate and display other interesting stats such as distance, calories burned, speed, elapsed time, steps per minute, and function as a stopwatch and alarm. Some pedometers have fancy features such as talking, playing music or reading your heart rate.

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I’m in the market for a pedometer. I’ve been reading articles and watching TV shows and every doctor highly recommends at least getting in 10,000 steps a day. Well, I have no idea how many steps I take a day. Do you? I found this article on About.com below, here’s what Dr. Catrine Tudor-Locke has to say about your steps.

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How many steps per day are enough? Dr. Catrine Tudor-Locke has been studying pedometer walking and released a new opinion in the January, 2004 issue of "Sports Medicine."

10,000 Steps a Magic Number?

A goal of 10,000 steps per day has become common, based on promotion in Japan by pedometer companies and its adoption by walking clubs. But there was no body of research to back up that number. Numbers as low as 6000 steps a day were shown to be correlated with a lower death rate in men in the Harvard Study.

Many people view 10,000 steps a day as too few for children, yet not achievable by many who are aged, sedentary, or who have chronic diseases. Some suggest instead of using a blanket 10,000 steps per day that instead the goal be based on the individual's baseline plus an increment of steps. For example, a woman who wears a pedometer in her ordinary activities notes that she logs 4000 steps per day. Her goal should be to add the equivalent of a half hour of walking to her day, for example 2000-3000 more steps per day.

New Goals

Based on the best evidence, Dr. Catrine Tudor-Locke recommends the following:
Classification of pedometer-determined physical activity in healthy adults:

1) Under 5000 steps/day may be used as a "sedentary lifestyle index"

2) 5,000-7,499 steps/day is typical of daily activity excluding sports/exercise and might be considered "low active."

3) 7,500-9,999 likely includes some exercise or walking (and/or a job that requires more walking) and might be considered "somewhat active."

4) 10,000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as "active".