If your New Year’s resolution is to be more active, walking is a great place to start. It can strengthen your heart, improve your mental health, and even and if you’re concerned about getting in more steps, you may want to invest in a fitness tracker. It turns out, people who wear one walk almost an extra mile each day, according to a new study.
Researchers reviewed the results of 28 studies to look at the activity levels of more than 7-thousand people. They found that being able to keep tabs on progress boosted how far people walked or ran. Overall, the folks with an activity tracker on their watch or phone walked an average of 1,850 more steps, which is really close to the approximately 2-thousand steps it takes most of us to walk a mile.
The research also shows that fitness tracking is even more effective when paired with text message alerts and features that personalize the app’s function to its user. So just by checking your app and walking every day, you could up your distance by about 28 miles a month - that’s more than a marathon! Study authors say doctors may consider prescribing fitness trackers and apps to patients who want to get more fit.
Source:Eat This, Not That