In the short span of a week, pretty much every aspect of our lives has been taken over by the game Pokémon Go. Restaurants and bars are gaining customers, politicians are using the game to win over voters, and there's a whole new genre of porn centered on it. But this has got to be the best thing to come out of Pokémon Go: People are getting an actual workout catching those Pokémon.
Cardiogram, an Apple Watch app that analyzes people's heart rates, found a major spike in its users' exercise habits following the game's launch, the company told The Washington Post. On July 6, the day Pokémon Go came out, 45 percent of Cardiogram users exercised for half an hour or more. Three days later, that number had jumped up to 53 percent.
Could this just be a fluke? It seems unlikely—because other fitness apps are seeing the same thing. Jawbone's UP fitness tracker saw a 62.5 percent increase in steps for users who mentioned the game. Similarly, people under 30 who use the activity-tracking app Pacer took 5 percent to 10 percent more steps the week after the game's launch. MyFitnessPal users are even entering it under their workouts. Rebecca Silliman, director of communications for Under Armour Connected Fitness, which makes MyFitnessPal, told The Washington Post that each Pokémon Go workout burns 250 to 300 calories.
Pokémon Go players aren't surprised by this data. Steve, 27, tells us he's been nearly doubling his daily distance since he started playing, according to Apple's Health tracker. "I used to ride the subway to my coworking space every day," he says. "After the release of Pokémon Go, riding the subway just means that I'll miss out on catching dozens of Pokémon and leveling up. Last week was the first week ever that I didn't buy a subway card. I've walked to the coworking space every day, oftentimes taking a route that's a half hour longer just to catch more Pokémon."
Tina, 41, says her son hit his personal highest number of steps for the year after starting the game.
So, if you're looking for a more exciting form of exercise than going to the gym, this is definitely one option.
Source: http://www.glamour.com/story/heres-one-unexpected-benefit-of-pokemon-go
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