To Your Health
August, 2022 (Vol. 16, Issue 08) |
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Track Your Way to Wellness
By Editorial Staff
If you can't seem to pull yourself away from your desk, off the couch, out of bed or any other scenario that renders you sedentary, listen up: It's time to get a tracking device and start tracking your way to wellness.
Why? Because research suggests people who track their activity are more likely to do it – and do more of it.
Case in point: A new study suggesting that you're more likely to participate in physical activity if you're able to monitor it with an activity tracking device. Researchers reviewed 39 studies involving 164,000 total study participants who utilized wearable activity trackers to monitor their physical activity. They found that using a tracking device (compared to not using one) "improved physical activity ... equating to approximately 1800 extra steps per day, 40 min per day more walking, and reductions of approximately 1 kg [2.2 pounds] in bodyweight."
Just consider the walking / step data: Using a tracking device could increase your daily step count by nearly 2,000 (that's approximately a mile depending on your gait / pace). Every extra step is one step closer to the healthier, happier you you've always wanted; and for some people, it's the jump-start they need to get away from that aforementioned couch, bed, desk, etc.
The authors' conclusion, which accompanies a summary of their findings in The Lancet Digital Health, says it all: "Wearable activity-tracker interventions are effective in increasing physical activity and supporting modest weight loss in a wide variety of clinical and non-clinical populations and age groups." If that's not reason enough to start tracking your way to wellness, we don't know what is!
