The researchers at Duke believe that games like Pokemon GO definitely do increase physical activity for users who previously had a sedentary lifestyle. Although the game isn’t likely to increase the health of players who are already getting enough exercise, it is doing a lot of good for people who usually get little or no exercise.
Ying Xian (MD, PhD at Duke) explains the findings in a recently published journal article…
One of the most impressive points in the article was that, “an additional 2,000 average steps, if applied to high-risk groups, would reduce the annual risk for a heart attack or stroke by roughly eight percent. That reduction, applied to even a fraction of the millions of people at risk, could prevent thousands of deaths and save millions of dollars in health-care costs a year.” You can find the full journal article here.
An increase of 2,000 steps (roughly one mile) per day may not sound very impressive to the average active person (who usually gets 10,000+ steps per day), but if Pokemon GO is helping high risk groups add 2k steps to their daily total and decrease the risk of heart attacks or strokes, then the game has certainly done some good for the world.
What do you think of the study? Has Pokemon GO increased your physical activity? Let us know in the comments.
Pokemon GO is currently available on iOS and Android devices in select regions.
Source: Duke University
