New Study: Pokemon Go Players Walk An Additional 2,000 Steps Each Day

It just might be okay if you are obsessed with Pokemon Go (just like millions of other people are) because there actually are health benefits to trying to capture cute and weird creatures with even cuter and weirder names. According to a study recently conducted by the American Heart Association just this week, players of the highly addictive mobile game have walked an average of nearly a couple of thousand extra steps each, ever since they started playing the game. For context, this is roughly equivalent to an eight percent lower risk of suffering a heart attack or a stroke in high risk people. 

Perhaps the people that stand to gain more are those who have led rather sedentary lifestyles before discovering this augmented reality game. They averaged nearly 3,000 extra steps each day since taking up the game. Players were also almost twice to accomplish the step number target of 10,000 daily recommended by the National Health Service after playing Pokemon Go -- they managed to complete 10,000 steps nearly 28 percent of days after hunting pocket monster, compared to 15 percent before. 

Some may remember another separate study conducted back in 2016. That earlier study found that three months since the release of Pokemon Go, players based in the United States were walking 1,400 additional steps every day. 

Even the makers of Pokemon Go themselves are quite proud of how far their game has taken players, literally, in the last few months. As indicated in a YouTube video posted by the official user account of the mobile game in December of last year, players around the world have walked an amazing 8.7 billion kilometers since the game was first released in the summer of 2016. By any measure, 8.7 billion kilometers is a lot -- it translates to around 2,000 trips around Planet Earth. 

Most mobile games make people do a lot of things, while they are sitting. What makes Pokemon Go so special is that it is so effective in getting people to actually get off their couches and walk around in their neighborhoods, nearby parks, shopping centers, and even on streets. Sure, some of the players may not have technically walked (they may have been on skateboards, roller blades, scooters, bicycles, or even automobiles), Pokemon Go is still worth celebrating for actually motivating people to actually engage in a physical activity for a change.