According to a study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (the journal of The American College of Sports Medicine), the price of physical inactivity in the U.S. is almost $25 billion. If the people who exercise too little to impact their health are added to the mix the bill jumps to $37.2 billion. That's why another study that compared health to the number of steps we take every day caught my interest. It revealed that people who walk, stride, run, bike or climb 10,000 steps a day can improve their health significantly. If at least half those steps have a slightly higher intensity, it can also have a significant impact your ability to maintain a healthy weight. The problem is that most people take less than 2,000 steps a day.

Some weeks ago I had one of those days that's probably typical of too many people. Because I had a deadline I got a sub to teach my daily morning exercise class. After I got up I did my bath and kitchen routine, went to my office, worked at the computer and phone all day with only a brief respite for lunch, and, after sending my assistant to the post office with the project, returned home. I celebrated with a restaurant dinner and movie with a friend, headed home, read then went to bed. Throughout that day I paid attention to the technical marvels available to me including an electric garage door opener, speaker phone, computer, electric pencil sharpener, stamps by mail, and automatic dial on my cell phone. At the end of the day a check of my pedometer revealed I'd taken less than 1500 steps compared to the more than 8,000 steps I click through in the course of a daily fifty minute walk or aerobic dance class. A 3 hour mountain hike or long bike ride uses 20,000 clicks-more than enough to maintain weight despite my daily treats.

The point is we make it easy as a society to take in too much energy and expend too little. Our ancestors who fully used their bodies on a daily basis to survive needed to make time to rest. Now that we are more sophisticated we need to make time to move.

I'm no gadget guru but I have come to enjoy some of the new, motivating high tech products that instead of encouraging me to sit, encourages me to move. I wear a Mio watch that allows me to monitor my pulse (and my stress) without the chest strap required by a heart rate monitor and the pedometer on the Vivonic Fitness Planner which also has a calorie and exercise recording feature so I know my steps taken and energy balance on a minute to minute basis.

You don't have to go high tech to get fit. So whether you get your steps, cycles, rows or climbs without any high tech gear or, like me, prefer the shoes, memberships, equipment or videos that can make exercise more expensive but provide the difference between motivation and being a couch potato, I urge you to start counting. Play now or you'll pay later.