Health aNd Fitness Guide

People who walk to keep fit benefit more from a pedometer, a device that counts steps. “People who use pedometers increase their physical activity by about 2000 steps a day, i.e. about a mile,” said Dr Dena M. Bravata, senior research scientist at Stanford University. “They also seem to lower their blood pressure and lose more weight.”

The conclusion, reported in the November 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is based on an analysis of 26 studies, done with 2,767 participants. Most were observational studies, which means that the researchers simply observed the volunteers, while eight had some scientific controls. Pedometer-users in controlled trials increase their physical activity by 2,491 steps more per day than those who don’t use it. The comparable increase for pedometer-users in observational trials was 2,183 steps per day.

Pedometer-users also had their systolic blood pressure — the higher number — fall by an average of 3.8 mm. A 2 mm reduction is associated with a 10 per cent reduction in stroke mortality, and a 7 per cent reduction in death from blood vessel conditions, Bravata noted. They also reduced their body-mass index by 0.4 per cent. The device motivates people for more physical activity. “The more sedentary you are, the more this tool will help you,” said Bravata.