Walking off the Weight

Nov. 20, 2007— -- What if you could burn off those holiday pounds, maintain a healthy weight, and improve your heart health -- just by using a small, comparatively inexpensive device?

It may sound like an infomercial pitch. But research released today suggests that using a pedometer -- a device that counts the number of steps walked per day -- on a regular basis may be the key to achieving such health benefits.

And at a time when nearly two-thirds of the nation's population is overweight or obese, this simple option, which costs around $15 bucks, could be a step in the right direction.

"Overall, pedometer users increased their physical activity by 26.9 percent," noted lead researcher Dr. Dena Bravata and colleagues at California's Stanford University in the study. The findings are published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Our results suggest that the use of these small, relatively inexpensive devices is associated with significant increases in physical activity and improvements in some key health outcomes, at least in the short term."

A pedometer is a small mechanical gadget, worn on the hip, which counts how many steps you take in a day. Some pedometers even convert that number into distance.

For all of its simplicity, the tool may provide just enough motivation to get people moving. The researchers found that people who used pedometers increased their physical activity by more than 2,190 steps per day -- a distance that adds up to more than a mile of extra walking.

Furthermore, the study found that using a pedometer to monitor your steps can increase physical activity and actually reduce body mass index (BMI) as well as blood pressure.

And physicians say this decrease in blood pressure could give rise to a host of related health benefits.

"Pedometer users significantly decreased their systolic blood pressure by almost 4mm Hg from baseline," the researchers noted. "Reducing systolic blood pressure by 2mm Hg is associated with 10 percent reduction in stroke mortality and a 7 percent reduction in mortality from vascular causes in middle aged populations."