November 10, 2014
We all know exercise is good for us. The recommended daily amount is 30 minutes of brisk walking 5 times a week. People who exercise regularly have much lower rates of heart disease, diabetes and other diseases as well as lower rates of several types of cancer. No medicine ever invented can protect you against disease as effectively as regular exercise.
Fitbit
Fitbits are designed to inspire and motivate you by tracking your activities and measuring these activities like the number of steps you walked or how long you slept. It's a wristband that collects your personal data and wirelessly connects to your smartphone, tablet or computer where you are then able to analyze it.
The FitBit was introduced in 2008 by co-founders Eric Friedman and James Park in San Francisco. The first of these was the Fitbit Tracker. It was one of the first activity tracking devices and could record how far you walked, how many calories you burned, how many floors you climbed, as well as the duration and intensity.
The FitBit's default goal for users is to do 10,000 steps a day. Most of us take about 6,000 to 7,000 steps daily, which is just shy of that recommended amount. The American Heart Association supports these devices and uses the 10,000 steps as a guideline to follow for improving health and decreasing heart attack risks. The FitBit does not track gym workout activity or miles and calories burned when cycling.
One of the most popular FitBit devices is the Flex, pictured below. It's a tracker than can be taken into water.
Susie, who is a former aerobics instructor, loves a challenge. Her incentive is the competition with her kids who also have FitBits. “At the end of each day, our total steps are calculated into weekly totals for all of us to see. I really love it when I'm near the top of the heap with the younger set” she says.
“It keeps me honest about my workouts. I may think I walked a lot, but it tells me at the end of the day exactly how many steps I have taken, and when I was most active. That's important because not all steps are equal."
Susie says her usual 45-minute morning walk with her husband and dogs is about 3,500 steps, but only about 30 minutes are somewhat active. That walk includes stops they make so the dogs can, well, you know. Her goal is at least 10,000 steps in a day, and the device I lets her know she has to do a lot more walking to be more active to improve her fitness.
"House work that includes scrubbing floors is good," she shared with me. "So is gardening if I spend time with the wheelbarrow going back and forth to the compost pile.” Although she has always walked a lot, having a FitBit increases her commitment to exercise because she says it takes the guesswork out of how far she really is going and it inspires her to do just a little bit more. "I'm glad my son Brian talked me into trying it.”
Debby, The Technophile
Debby is a gaget lover. She is willing to try anything that will help her do a little more exercise in a day. She uses her FitBit Flex by counting steps. She likes that it gives her recommended daily steps of 10,000 (about 5 miles) and tells her how many calories she has burned. Debby says, “Seeing the numbers motivates me to do more when I am slacking. I enjoy the lights, vibrations and alarms when I have reached my 10,000 step goal, and it’s easy to use. I have had trackers in the past that were too complicated. “
How would you use this gadget?
Start by establishing a base line of your daily activity. Then you can set a short term goal for adding more exercise to your daily routine. Your 30 minutes doesn’t have to be all at the same time, either. You can break it up into 10 minute or 15 minute increments. From there a long term goal and finally a weekly regime can be achieved to staying healthy and fit.
The bottom line is it doesn’t matter how you take more steps, it's a matter of taking those additional steps to meeting your next goal.