NY Times: Americans Take Fewer Steps

[reinhard]

From:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/1 ... wer-steps/

Americans are thousands of steps behind other countries when it comes to daily physical activity, according to new research that used pedometers to measure movement.

The breakdown:

Americans: 5,117 steps a day
"western Australia:" 9,695 steps (who knows what they do in eastern Australia)
Switzerland: 9,650 steps
Japan 7,168 steps

And of course, don't forget the good old Amish:

Amish men: 18,000 steps
Amish women: 14,000 steps

The article also gives some pedometer shopping advice; these are the two models most widely used in pedometer research:

ACCUSPLIT AE120XL

Fit Solutions SW-200 Yamax Digiwalker Pedometer

Reinhard

[wosnes]

I lived and worked in an area where there is a high Amish population. It's rare to see an overweight Amish person -- until they get quite elderly and their children and grandchildren take over the daily work of life. Even then, they are slimmer than many of the "English" of the same age.

[Over43]

The JAMA published an article 5-6 years ago about activity level and mortality rates, according to their aggragated research, people who move less, live shorter lives.

I need to use the pedometer on my iPod and see how many steps a day I'm taking.