Pedometer Pushes People to Walk More(ation of the trials was 18 weeks. But...),Health

But it's generally agreed that most Americans need more physical activity. Two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only 45 percent of Americans get enough physical activity, usually defined as at least 30 minutes a day of exercise such as walking.

One major advantage of pedometer use in an exercise program is that it caters to the American quest for numbers, said James Hill, director of the University of Colorado Center for Human Nutrition and co-founder of America on the Move, an organization dedicated to increasing physical activity.

"We published a paper in 2003 which suggested using pedometers as tools to promote physical activity," Hill said. "Until then, a pedometer was just a tool to measure activity. A pedometer puts physical activity in terms of a number. You can watch it and manage your day in terms of physical activity."

Pedometers can be simple and inexpensive or sophisticated and expensive, Hill said.

"I recommend that you invest at least $15," he said. "I'm a simple guy, and I prefer a one-button model that simply pushes you back to zero. Some models put in stride length and mileage, but the simpler kind does very well."

More information

A guide to using pedometers is offered by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

SOURCES: Dena Bravata, M.D., senior research scientist, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.; James Hill, Ph.D., director, University of Colorado Center for Human Nutrition, Denver; Nov. 21, 2007, Journal of the American Medical Association