Pedometers keep track of how far a person walks or runs. They also keep track of the number of steps a person takes. That -- plus advice to take 10,000 steps a day -- seems to be the best motivation for people who don't like to exercise.

The finding comes from a study of 58 women by University of Tennessee researcher Dixie L. Thompson, PhD, and colleagues. The women didn't get much exercise. In a typical day, they tended to take only 5,760 steps. That's not much exercise. And it may explain why all of these middle-aged women (average age, 45) were overweight or obese (although none was severely obese).

At the very least, a person ought to get 30 plus minutes of exercise every day. That's about 10,000 steps with their normal activity.

So Thompson and colleagues told half of the women to "take a brisk 30-minute walk on most, preferably all, days of the week." They gave the women a pedometer -- sealed so the women could not read it -- to record how many steps they actually took.
The researchers told the other half of the women to walk 10,000 steps every day. They, too, got a sealed pedometer. But they also got another pedometer that showed them how many steps they were taking.

Women told to take a 30-minute walk averaged about 10,000 steps -- but only on days they actually took a walk. On other days, they tended to sit around as usual.