1 billion steps and counting
A collaborative research team from Arizona State University and Karolinska Institute of Stockholm, Sweden, recently completed a nine-month walking project to increase physical activity levels among faculty, staff and graduate students in examining how something as simple as walking in a university setting can influence self-perceived health and stress levels, anthropometric measures, and overall fitness.
Organized into teams, 2,085 participants walked nearly 1 billion steps - 931,758,677 steps - in six months. The project goal was to have participants walk 10,000 steps per day for at least 185 days to reduce their inactive days - defined as 3,000 steps daily - by 20 percent. Analysis of the study’s findings is under way.
New Lifestyles, Inc. of Lees Summit, Mo., was a primary sponsor of the research project, which used its pedometers to record the participants’ steps daily. Principal investigators for the research initiative are Barbara Ainsworth and Pamela Swan from the ASU College of Nursing and Health Innovation (CONHI), and Agneta Yngve and Patrick Emanuelsson from the Karolinska Institute.
The Karolinska Institute, one of the leading neuroscience facilities in Europe, won the overall contest by having more participants walk 10,000 steps per day. The Bahama Breezers from the College of Nursing and Health Innovation finished first from ASU with an average of 7.5 miles walked per day.
The grand prize? A free, all-inclusive trip to the United States for the Karolinska winners and a trip to Sweden for the ASU winners. The Karolinska Institute winners will visit Arizona Feb. 13-19, sightseeing Phoenix and taking trips to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, while the ASU winners will travel to Sweden in June.
New Lifestyles, Inc. of Lees Summit, Mo., was a primary sponsor of the research project, which used its pedometers to record the participants’ steps daily. Principal investigators for the research initiative are Barbara Ainsworth and Pamela Swan from the ASU College of Nursing and Health Innovation (CONHI), and Agneta Yngve and Patrick Emanuelsson from the Karolinska Institute.
Provided by Arizona State University
