Getting the Family in Shape
by the Gadget Gals
Newspaper and magazine articles and television documentaries emphasize, again and again, that far too many of us are overweight. We don't need experts to tell us this, for all we have to do is to look into our classrooms, our neighborhoods, and our homes. Let's face it. Some of us and some of us just don't like to exercise, and our kids don't want to be away from their video games and computers. We think about going to exercise class while we're lunching with friends. Our kids are happy to sit for hours, vanquishing villains and interacting with friends online. Getting us up and moving can be difficult. If you are one of those people who is feeling guilty about not exercising, and/or are parent of one of those kids who seems chained to one technology or other, why not use technology to get everyone going? In a previous article we discussed pedometers, which are perfect for motivation. Schools are purchasing them for physical education classes, and the kids love them. As one first grader said, "I love to make the numbers go up on mine. It's really fun. Tomorrow I'll do even more steps." And adults love them, tool, quite simply because they are easy to use and offer the inspiration to take more steps. Besides pedometers, you might consider getting speedometers/odometers for all the bicycles in your garage. If you can get your family out on the bike path, these speedometers/odometers will encourage everyone to keep cycling. You and your family will enjoy checking how far you've traveled and what speeds everyone's hitting while cycling. These gadgets are generally inexpensive and easy to install, but if you're like this gadget gal and are pretty good at computers but not so terrific at attaching the bike speedometer/odometer's magnets in the correct places on a bike, ask someone at a bike shop to install it for you. The $8 fee I paid for installation was well worth it. Another great gadget to motivate technology-loving family members is a watch that can detect a person's heart rate. In school your children have probably done lessons in biology or health class where they learned about their heart. Sometimes these classes use blood pressure or heart monitors to show students how changes in their level of exercise affect heart rate. Wristwatch heart monitors are for adults and teens-those who understand how to check their heart rate and what resting, target, and maximum rates are all about. You may be thinking that you and your teenaged kids aren't likely to bother with wires and straps that are needed for many heart monitors. However, some wristwatch monitors work without straps and wires. They look just like a sport watch and have, depending upon the model selected, displays for time, date, heart rate, calories burned, etc. To test the wrist monitors, I purchased one called a Mio (on sale for $79) from the Amazon site. Because I have a small wrist, I ordered a petite version. Most women and teenage girls, I'm guessing, would need this size. I had no difficulty setting my Mio, and enjoyed putting it to work right away. All you have to do to get your heart rate is to strap the watch securely on your wrist (it needs to fit snuggly), place your middle finger on a sensor on the watch, and gently press the heart rate button with your index finger. You'll see the letter BPM come up along with a flashing heart. Then after a beep, the watch will give you your pulse. These heart rate watches come in a variety of plastic-type straps including pink, blue, black, red, sage, gray and pink, gray and black, etc. Additional straps can be purchased at the Mio site and at Amazon. Additional Information Target Heart Rates
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4736 How to Help Your Kids
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3033987 Pulse Rates
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003399.htm Information on Pedometers
http://walking.about.com/cs/measure/tp/pedometer.htm
http://walking.about.com/od/measure/
http://www.walk4life.com/getstarted/default.asp Mio Site
http://www.miowatch.com
Pricing for different models ranges from about $90 - $180.
Individual straps - about $15
Packs of straps - (two straps) about $30 Amazon
http://www.amazon.com
Mio Heart Rate Monitors
Pricing for different models ranges from about $60 - $160.
Pricing for strap packs (two in a pack) is about $30.
Bike Speedometers/Odometers - pricing usually less than $35
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