Accumulating 10,000 Steps/Day Using a Wristband Activity Monitor May Not Meet Step Guidelines.

Physical activity (PA) guidelines aimed at accumulating 10,000 steps/day through exercise (EX) and activities of daily living (ADL) has become increasingly common with the advent of wristband PA monitors. Yet, accumulated “steps” with wristband PA monitors may not equal validated pedometers. Consequently, there is a need for evaluating and developing guidelines for step counts using wristband PA monitors for the general population. PURPOSE: To compare pedometer and wristband PA monitor steps accumulated through EX and ADL designed to mimic real-world behavior using a diverse participant population. METHODS: 24 males and 35 females, age: 18-65 yrs., BMI: 19-45 kg/m2, including exercisers and non-exercisers, were recruited for this two-day study. On Day 1 participants completed 30 minutes of EX on a treadmill at 64-74% of their age-predicted HRmax wearing a pedometer and wristband PA monitor. Pedometer and wristband PA monitor steps were recorded after EX and pedometer steps were subtracted from 10,000 to determine the remainder of steps participants needed to accumulate 10,000 steps through ADL on Day 2 (ADL pedometer steps = 10,000 steps – exercise pedometer steps). Next, participants were sent home with a pedometer and wristband PA monitor. On Day 2, participants were instructed to accumulate the remainder of steps needed to reach 10,000 steps through ADL. Once participants accumulated their ADL pedometer steps, step counts on both devices (i.e., wristband PA monitor and pedometer) were recorded. Total step counts were calculated as: EX steps on Day 1 plus ADL steps on Day 2 for devices. RESULTS: Significantly fewer wristband PA monitor steps were accumulated than pedometer steps during treadmill EX (3864±68 vs. 3573±81 steps; P<0.01) on Day 1 by 7.5%. Conversely, on Day 2, accumulated wristband PA monitor steps were significantly greater than pedometer steps during ADL (7973±275 vs. 6255±72 steps; P<0.01) by 27.5%. Consequently, total steps were significantly higher for wristband PA monitor steps than pedometer steps (11546±281 vs. 10119±57 steps; P<0.01). CONCLUSION: In order to achieve to the equivalent of 10,000 pedometer steps using a wristband activity monitor through treadmill exercise and activities of daily living, wristband activity monitor users should strive for closer to ~11,500 “steps” per day.