It has been shown in many different studies that wearing a pedometer can help adults to increase their daily physical activity. What has also been found out is that they can do the same for kids. Pedometers work for both adults and kids because they serve as a type of encouragement booster and as an aid to keep both adults and kids motivated to stay active.
Daily exercise is essential for a healthy body with 10,000 steps, which is about 5 miles, being the recommended distance to walk and when this information became common knowledge, adults from all walks began walking with their pedometers attached to their waist. The bonus is for those trying to lose extra pounds the walking boosted their results and those who were not did the walking for general health.
It is also common knowledge that many kids in this country are overweight or obese. This has been directly linked to the fact that kids are spending more time indoors playing video games, watching TV or using the computer. Kids these days simply do not play outside as much as kids of years past. This inactivity is leading to kids who are gaining too much weight too fast and growing into overweight adults. The solution to the problem is getting kids to be more active. That is not always easy, though. This is where pedometers come in.
The theory is that since pedometers help adults that they could also help kids, because basically people are the same regardless of their age and like to see results for their actions. A pedometer helps since it shows what you have accomplished while being active. The instant read out will let you know just how many steps have been taken up to that point of the day and if you are trying to reach a certain number of steps daily, then this will help you to reach your goal.
Getting kids to use a pedometer is not too difficult. Parents can simply make it a type of game. They can tell them what the pedometer does and how it works. They can then tell them that their goal is to reach a certain number of steps every day. If they reach their goal then they get a reward. This can work a lot like a potty training system where the parent charts their success and rewards them for it. Kids will think it is fun and they will work very hard to reach their daily goal.
The best part of this is setting a healthy way of living, or at least part, by keeping them more active by getting them to want to do activities outdoors instead of indoors. If it is made fun and they are encouraged it will seem like fun and thy will less likely resist. The pedometer can be a very useful tool in achieving this.