We all need a push every once in a while to increase activity, stay weight conscious, and exert the extra effort to maintain optimum health.
Often times, help from a friend is a really beneficial way to stay motivated when endeavoring to stay active.
He/she reminds you that the effort is necessary, sometimes offers that extra push by extending an invite for a nice brisk walk,
and helps pass the time during exercise with some friendly conversation or encouragement.
There is no question that a motivational counterpart can definitely upkeep the spirit of health and inspiration to stay active.
However, a luxury like this can’t last forever, at least not on an everyday basis.
This is where it is important to find something consistent, reliable, and easy to depend on as that extra motivational push to continue increased activity, day in and day out.
For many, this motive is as small as a rather inexpensive tool that has been around for a long time; the pedometer.
The pedometer is a small tool used to count steps, typically placed around the waste in between the hip and belly button. Many people wear it throughout their entire day in order to gauge how far they are actually walking on a daily basis, while others simply like to wear it during specific exercise. Converting the number of steps into miles allows one to see the level of activity he is getting each day, however; it can offer something much more than just a telltale monitoring. The pedometer offers the ability to set a goal. Not only does it clearly depict the average steps a person takes throughout his day, it is an easy way to determine a greater amount to reach for, beyond the daily average. Some suggestions advise to increase walking activity by 10% each week. The universal agreed upon number of steps that should at least be reached per day is ultimately 10,000. This is a level set to ensure health and natural balance. Increasing this distance to 15,000 steps is the typical level of reaching assured weight loss. For some people, especially those who have been sedentary for quite some time, this may take a gradual approach in working up to this goal. Small increases of steps over time will inevitably work towards becoming comfortable with this type of distance. On average, studies show that a half an hour walk will accumulate 3,100-4,100 steps. By taking a walk (the brisker the better) that measures 6,000-7,000 you are increasing your chances of weight loss. Studies also show that the average daily routine already includes approximately 3,000-4,000 steps. In this sense, it is a great idea to get creative and begin finding new ways to incorporate more. Perhaps walk to the grocery store to pick up a few items, rather than driving; stepping outside to simply walk around the block while enjoying your morning coffee, instead of sitting at the table doing nothing; walk into the other room to talk to your loved one instead of shouting out what you wanted to communicate across the house; park as far away from every building as you can (someone will appreciate finding a close space and you will have also made her day); choose stairs instead of elevators; do your grocery shopping in the order you have the items listed, rather than going aisle to aisle; incorporate walks with friends or coworkers to spend quality time; walk your dog-more often, a little further (or why not walk your cat?); play with your children, or your pets, or your significant other-chase them; if you think about it, there are ways to increase your steps nearly everywhere you go.
Being conscious of how many steps, in turn how much distance, you are covering each day is a great reminder to continue this type of activity. Upon setting a goal, one is much more likely to increase his steps than if there is no goal in place at all. Study upon study has supported this. Gradually increasing that goal will ultimately gradually increase weight loss, lower blood pressure, decrease the risk of heart disease, and level out blood sugars.
There are many versions of pedometers out there today. A simple step counter is really all you need. The fancier ones will cost a bit more and begin offering other functions such as calorie counting (which may be a plus), speed of gait, conversion of steps to distance etc. Some have radios and other amenities. Bear in mind when purchasing your pedometer what you want to get from it. One of the best options is the Yamax, manufactured in Japan, as this is the one most often used in scientific studies. Japanese models, in general, are high quality products with very little error rate, followed by Taiwanese models.
The quality/brand may or may not be significant when deciding to incorporate a pedometer into your life. What is important is the decision to get motivated, the choice to utilize a tool that can help keep track of how well you are doing, and setting a personal goal for yourself. Keeping a journal of your steps often helps continue the psychological pact with yourself to stick to reaching and eventually exceeding such a goal. Having a sense of measurement can ultimately encourage, inspire, motivate, and even push someone into finally following through with their determination to increase activity. Without the live help of an exercise companion, the pedometer may very well be the next best thing for many people.
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