When an Inch is a Mile

Have you ever had the sensation that you’ve been working out for 2 hours and look down at the treadmill console and see that you’ve only been at it for about 29 minutes? Or, in some cases, you’ve been bicycling for 2 hours and you only feel like it has taken 30 minutes. If this is you, a new study says that you are normal.

In the scientific study using over 1,500 participants from several countries, scientists found out that essentially no one has an accurate perception of their activity level. Using fitness trackers, the study found that perception of people is almost always inaccurate when compared with their actual activity.

I found this out in my own family. One of the kids in my family has some serious developmental problems but he is very healthy and is always moving. I wanted to know exactly how much activity he was getting every day so I bought him his own fitness tracker.

Although I expected his numbers to be high, I had no idea of exactly how much movement he got in a typical day. What we found out in the first week is that his actual running and walking totaled about 20 miles per day! No wonder he can eat everything in sight and never gain an ounce!

You might have the same type of person in your family or it might be you. Get a fitness tracker and give it a try or use the tracker that is very commonly a preloaded app in your smartphone. These have proven to be generally accurate when compared with the activity you get from a good fitness tracker.

What we believe you will find is that your activity is my different than your perception. For instance, when I just looked at my tracker data from yesterday, I had no idea that I had walked 3 miles yesterday and climbed 8 floors of stairs.

Read the full article on Science Daily here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180412102746.htm