I had an unfortunate mishap with my pedometer on Saturday. Actually, I’m not sure mishap is the right word; nobody was injured and there were no explosions. What I had was more of a malfunction. It seems my whiz bang fantastic pedometer doesn’t work all the time.

It’s supposed to work when walking, counting each and every step. On Saturday, my family went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We spent almost the entire day there, arriving at 9am sharp, as soon as the park opened so we could get on the super popular Toy Story 3D shooting gallery ride; which still had a 50 minute wait despite getting there at opening. (Totally worth the wait though.) We stayed until 5:00pm, and most of the time in-between was spent walking or waiting in lines.

Towards the end of the day, exhausted from walking, standing, waiting in lines, all in 90 degree heat, I looked down at my pedometer expecting to see high numbers. It showed about 12,000 steps. I looked at it while I was slowly walking and pushing the stroller. THE NUMBERS WEREN’T MOVING! Every once in a while the pedometer would click up a step, but during the slow meandering, and especially when pushing a stroller, the pedometer wasn’t registering my steps. Apparently while pushing a stroller, the movement of a step is a much smoother motion. Smooth enough for it to NOT register on the pedometer.

So it turns out my fancy new pedometer is flawed in this manner. I’m not sure anything can be done to fix that, short of taking more pronounced steps. I might just dig my old inferior pedometer out of the drawer for the next trip to Disney, just to see if it does any better.

I have really slacked on my pedometer coverage, I’m sure everyone has been anxiously awaiting an update to my first pedometer post.  Especially since I was so excited to get that darned thing.  Well, wait no longer because here it is!  At my old job I received a free pedometer to participate in a “Walk Across America” program.  I loved that little pedometer, it was such a simple and yet very cool device.  I was able to track my steps throughout the day and determine my level of activity.  It was very cool, and I was excited to play with it.

I now spit on that inferior pedometer (figuratively, not literally as that would be gross.)  It simply calculated steps when it could have done so much more.  More like my SHINEY NEW pedometer.  That’s right, I have a new pedometer that is so much better; it even makes my coffee in the morning.

Actually, I don’t drink coffee and the pedometer isn’t quite that fancy, but it is a serious upgrade in pedometer technology.   In addition to keeping track of steps, my new pedometer also track miles walked, calories burned, and has a clock.  Yeah, even a clock.  My old inferior pedometer didn’t have any of these advanced features.  You know what else; I don’t have to log my steps by typing them in.  Keyboard entry is so 1990s.  This bad boy attaches with a USB cable.  As soon as I plug it in, BAM, it uploads my steps automatically.  I’m even able to reset the count display on the pedometer, while it keeps track of total steps in the background.  That makes it easier to track certain activities, whereas before I didn’t want to clear the display without writing down my steps.  It’s kinda like that trip button on the car’s odometer.

I can’t really explain why I am so excited about pedometer technology, it seems very strange.  Maybe it’s my analytical side wanting to measure and quantify.  If that’s the case, then let’s give that analytical side some freedom.  Follow along as I analyze some of numbers related to pedometer usage.

Analyze Those Steps

10,000 steps equals 5 miles?  Not for me.  With stride length varying from person to person, this calculation can be way off.  It’s also likely to be different for men and women.  Now that I think about it, this equation could be true for exercise walking or jogging, where you are taking longer strides with the purpose of exercising.  But tracking your daily steps throughout your normal (non-exercising) routine, you’ll likely need more than 10,000 steps to walk 5 miles.

Here is the math to determine what length stride is required to get 10,000 steps equal to 5 miles.

1 mile = 63,360 inches

Assuming 10,000 steps = 5 miles then

1 mile = 2000 steps

Put it all together and we get

63360 inches/2000 steps = 31.68 inch stride

As I mentioned above, that’s a little much for a normal walking stride.  My pedometer instructions tell me that the average stride for women is 26 inches, and 30 inches for men.  I suspect that’s a normal “exercise” stride.  My casual walking stride is 22 inches.  If I were speed walking it would be 30 inches, but in everyday walking, it’s much shorter.  We all seem to have different every day walking paces too.   Back in high school I walked very fast, always in a rush to get everywhere.  Since then I have slowed my pace in an effort to be more relaxed and enjoy the current moment.  This slower pace results in a shorter stride.

My stride = 22 inches

63360 inches / 22 = 2880 steps/mile

So, for me, 1 mile = 2880 steps

And to get 5 miles per day, I need 14,400 steps.

That’s a little depressing, but I suppose the important part was just to get active.  Tracking the activity helps me to be accountable for my daily dose of activity.  However, I like to be accurate, and even if my results aren’t what I expected, I have now done the math to get the real numbers.

Calculate Your Stride

The method my pedometer instructions described were to place a ruler on the ground and take a single step.  Measure from heel to heel or tow to tow.  I found that to be awkward, as thinking about my step made it “not normal.”  I found it easiest to find a patch of dirt to walk in.  Then just walk across as I normally walk.  Then I measured the footprints from heel to heel.  This got me a more accurate reading of my normal stride.  I’ve also read that you can take ten steps, measure that distance and divide by ten.

Once you have your stride length, you can calculate your steps per mile.  Here’s the formula:

63360 / your stride = steps per mile.

That’s one mile converted to inches and divided by your stride length.

If live anywhere outside the US, you’re probably using metric numbers, so here’s the calculation for you.  Measure your stride in centimeters.

100,000 / your stride = steps per kilometer.

That’s one kilometer converted to centimeters and divided by your stride length.

I should have done these calculations back when I had my simple pedometer, just so I could get a better idea of how far I actually walked in a single day.  This new fancy pedometer actually does that calculation for me, once I entered in my stride length.

Walking Across America

I’ve seen several programs that talk about Walking Across America.  In fact this is the program I participated in with my first pedometer.  The idea was cool, but the program was way too short.  The way we implemented it was to have teams, and each team would add up all the individual numbers.  These numbers where then scaled to represent some imaginary distance.  That scaling took some of the fun out of it for me.  In a single day, my team would take a virtual (and scaled) walk across an entire state.  I decided to look at the real numbers instead of the scaled numbers.  Here is what I came up with.

Distance across the United States (along the American Discovery Trail) 5057 miles

At 2000 steps = 1 mile

2000 steps x 5057 miles = 10,114,000 steps

At 10,000 steps a day (5 miles/day)

10,114,000 steps/ 10,000 steps per day = 1011 days

With my shorter stride I hesitate to even calculate the number.  I hesitated, but then had to do it anyway.  At 5 miles per day it would take me 1011 days.  Hehe, silly me, the number is the same because I was using the same distance.  If I look at steps, then with my stride it would be 14,564,160 steps.    I suppose the moral this story is if you plan to actually walk across America, you might want to walk more than 5 miles per day, and maybe take bigger strides.

Actually, the real moral here is to just get active.  I find that tracking my activity helps me to be more mindful of the time I spend in healthy activities.  Having the pedometer also encourages me to walk at time when I might otherwise ride or drive.

Here are some numbers to see how many steps are in some daily activities.

• Mowing the back yard: 1600 steps
• Half a day at a Disney Theme Park (Magic Kingdom):  10,000 steps
• Yard work including spraying for bugs, a little fertilizing and some mowing: 12,000 steps

Anyone else out there fascinated with these little pedometers?  (I hope I’m not the only one here )

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about sleep from my friends on Facebook lately.  Seems like many of them aren’t getting enough sleep.  I’m not sure why this is, but if I can take some hints from my three year old daughter, I’m guessing they want to play instead of go to bed.  Of course she’d rather play than eat dinner also, but most of us have overcome that.  So why can’t we overcome the sleep issue also? 

I love to sleep, but I’m occasionally guilty of not getting to bed on time.  Typically, when I get to bed late, it’s because of a video game or a Netflix movie.  This usually means I get to bed about an hour late.  I can deal with this, although I do feel tired when I wake up in the morning.  My bedtime is 10:30pm.  Waking up at 6:30am gives me a solid 8 hours of sleep.  I find that is my ideal amount of sleep.  Some do fine with less, like Ralph Jean-Paul.  During his 3AM Experiment, he found that he did well on 6.5 hours of sleep.  I’ve heard that as we get older we need less sleep, and I’m still waiting for that day to come.  I would really love to have an extra couple of waking hours each day.  Until that day comes, I am pretty careful about making sure that I usually get 8 hours of sleep each night.  In fact, often get a little anxious once the clock roles past 10:30; especially if I’m doing nothing important or fun. 

One thing that perplexes me, even about myself, is why we stay up late watching TV, especially TV programs that aren’t particularly interesting.  I do this sometimes, most often on the weekend.  I suppose I’m fighting the need for sleep hoping that I can squeeze a little more enjoyment out of the day.  When I think about it though, that extra enjoyment usually gets sucked out of the following day when I sleep in, or when I wake up at normal time and feel tired all day. 

As a side note, when determining the value I place on a particular TV program, I usually compare it to renting a DVD movie or program.  Would I actually pay to watch this programming?  If the answer is no, then it’s not worth my time to watch. 

So how do I fight this urge to stay up late?  For me, I find recognizing how I am spending my time helps.  If I’m doing something that I really enjoy then it may be worth while.  But if I’m just vegging out in front of the TV, my time is better spent in bed sleeping.  It really comes down to deciding how my time is best spent. 

I’ve also found it helps to practice falling asleep.  I’ve already discussed my method here.  Being able to fall asleep quickly makes bedtime more appealing.

Let’s get some bullet points here to summarize.

• Determine your ideal amount of sleep and schedule accordingly.
• Turn off the TV or at least determine the value of the programming.
• Recognize how you spend your time and determine the best use of that time.
• Find a method to fall asleep fast and practice it.

 Before I sign off, I want to hit on a couple of reasons sleep is important to me. 

• I find that I feel better when I get enough sleep.
• I wake up easier, and that sets a good tone for the rest of the day.
• I am more prone to stay healthy.  I get sick easier when I don’t get enough sleep.

 Are you getting enough sleep?  What are your thoughts on sleep?

We are having a little competition at work, where we form teams to walk across America.  Not literally of course, although that would be a lot more fun!  We are tracking our steps using a pedometer, and logging the results at startwalkingnow.org.  This website is hosted by the American Heart Association.  We all log our individual steps, and the website keeps track of those steps, plus calculates the team total.

The concept sounded interesting, plus I get a FREE pedometer!  It’s kind of funny in a way.  I’ve always wanted a pedometer, but could just never justify the purchase.  I realize that pedometers don’t really cost that much, but I try to have a valid reason before making purchases.  I could just never talk myself into needing one. But, I’ll go with free any day.

So, I now have my shiny new pedometer in hand (or on my belt actually.)  I registered on the site so that I can track my steps.  And I started walking.  60 steps back to my desk, hurray!  Ok, walk to the water cooler for a glass of water.  Now I’m up to 123!  Wait, how many am I supposed to do in a day?  10,000.  Wow.  I have a long way to go.

I’m not sure who came up with the idea of walking 10,000 steps per day, but from what I read that equals about 5 miles.  I guess someone decided that was a good distance in working toward a healthier lifestyle.  Apparently the average sedentary person walks about 3000 steps per day.  I’m guessing that’s about what mine is, but did they really have to use the term sedentary?  Maybe “mobility adverse” or “one who likes sitting” would be better terms.

I’m looking forward to tracking some of my average daily routines to see how many steps I take and discovering how active (or sedentary) I really am.  Perhaps I can shed that sedentary label.  I’m also looking forward to how many steps I take walking around the Disney parks.  I heard the average person walks 10 miles when visiting a theme park.  That would be about 20,000 steps.  I’m not sure I’ll get that many since we usually only go for half a day, and we’ve gotten a little more proficient at getting around the parks, but it will be interesting to see how many steps I end up with.  Shoot, the walk in from the parking lot should be a good half mile anyway.  I always walk in instead of riding the tram.  Mainly so I don’t have to unpack and fold the stroller to get on, and then unfold and repack the stroller when I get off five minutes later.  Also, it’s usually just as fast, if not faster, to walk.

I’ll update the blog from time to time with any data I find interesting during my pedometer use.

Want to make fun of me because I’m overly excited about a pedometer?  Go ahead and do it in the comments section.  Or, you could share your story of pedometer use and let me know how it worked out for you.

UPDATE: Check out the latest developments in my Pedometer Use.

Photo by David Paul Ohmer

My wife and I have a running joke about falling asleep.  We’ll sometimes go to bed real late, and I’ll mention that I’ll probably fall asleep right away.  She laughs a little, because I fall asleep very quickly every night.  It’s funny now, but it wasn’t always like that for me.  I’d like to share my method and the story of how I learned to sleep.

Falling asleep seems so easy, but millions of people have trouble doing it.  It’s easy to see how big a problem it is in the US, with advertisements for sleep aids plastering TV and radio.  I learned my method when I was in the ninth grade.  This was a big year for me, as it’s also the same year I learned to stop worrying.  This realization that worry serves no purpose helped with my sleeplessness.  But it wasn’t the only factor.

Quiet the Mind

The main factor was to quiet the mind.  To stop all those random thoughts from popping in my head as I was trying to fall asleep.  I thought about all kinds of things, from school, to boy scouts, to family, to friends.  The mind just kept going and going.

A few years ago, I read a book called The Accidental Buddhist, and they referred to this as Monkey Mind.  Basically the mind is jumping from tree to tree rather than sitting still.  I’ve come to find out this is a fairly common term in Buddhism and Yoga.

Your Mantra

So, back to my quest for sleep.  I didn’t know anything about monkey mind or how to quiet it back then.  But, I did come across a page in a book that discussed meditation and the quieting of the mind.  I believe the book was Dianetics, but it was so long ago, I can’t be sure.  It’s rather interesting how I came across it.  I didn’t read much back then, and, in fact, I rather disliked reading.  But, I saw a book on the coffee table, and read one single page.  That single page happened to discuss meditation and quieting the mind.  It discussed focusing your mind by repeating a single phrase over and over again in your head.

The phrase they recommended was “I Am One.”  This is actually a rather powerful phrase if you think about it.  It encompasses our oneness with the world around us.  We are each a part of the whole; a part of humanity, a part of earth, a part of the universe, and a part of God.  We are one with everything around us.  In a physical sense, we are all made up of molecules and atoms.  These same atoms make up everything around us, so even in the physical sense, we are one, all built from the same basic building blocks of nature.

The phrase “I Am One,” really worked for me.  Of course you are free to choose your own phrase or mantra.  Any short phrase that holds some importance to you would work.  Perhaps “I am happy” or “I am that I am” (a phrase that my dad likes,) or “Life is beautiful.”

Once you have your phrase picked out, you will repeat that phrase over and over in your head as you are falling asleep.  If your mind wanders from the phrase, that’s ok.  Just recognize that it wandered and get it back on track repeating the phrase again.  Minds do tend to wander, and part of what we are doing is training our mind.  Thus you just accept that it wandered and get right back to business.

The Breathing

Now that you have your phrase picked out, and you are repeating it over and over, let’s synchronize it with your breathing.  For me, I would think “I Am” and breathe in, then think “One” and breathe out. You could also use the entire phrase on the breath in and the breath out, or just on the in, or just on the out. Do whatever feels right to you. The important thing is that you synchronize your phrase with your breathing. This will steady your breathing.

Here’s the quick list of the steps:

• Choose a phrase or mantra, such as “I Am One.”
• Repeat that phrase over and over again, and synchronize it with your breathing.  “I Am” as you breathe in, “One” as you breathe out.

Pretty simple huh.  Now a couple more questions may come up.  Why does it work, and how long does it take?  It works for two reasons.  Repeating the phrase or mantra focuses your mind, and keeps your monkey mind from jumping tree to tree.  In a way, your mind becomes bored and you get sleepy.  Also, the steady breathing helps to relax your body, making it easier to fall asleep.

How long does it take?  Well, the first few times you do it, it may still take you a while to fall asleep.  If you practice this every night, you will gradually learn to fall asleep faster and faster.  The key is to keep practicing every night for an extended period of time.  It really does take practice, I can’t stress that enough.  I began seeing results in a few weeks, but it took about a year before I could drift off as soon as my head hit the pillow.

After practicing for a long time, you won’t even need the mantra and breathing anymore, you will have learned to fall asleep.

I’d like to hear from you.  Do you have trouble falling asleep?  Do you have another technique that worked for you?  Let me hear from you in the comments section!

Photo by kaibara87