Can AR Actually Help You Be Healthier?
BY JEN WIDERSTROM
Here in the FÖRENA Daily community, we have a 10k Cardio Club. We did a six-week push before the end of the year to hit 10,000 steps daily. I was motivated during that push and I was accountable to our group, but once we hit January and finished the challenge, I lost my motivation. I recently stumbled upon this game called Pikmin Bloom, one of the first AR games focused on step counting, and it has helped me turn what normally feels like work into wonder.
The creators of Nintendo games Mario, Zelda and Pokemon Go have teamed up to make an AR (alternate reality) game called Pikmin Bloom, where the only currency in the game is your step count. If you want to play the game, you have to walk. You get to collect and find things on your journey, like little plant-like creatures called and seedlings. In order to grow the seedlings, you have to walk 1,000 steps for the small ones and 10,000 steps for the big ones.
I mean, let’s be honest, I wasn’t sure it was going to work for me—I’m nearly 40 years old and I was skeptical about whether I’d be into a video game anymore.
To my surprise, I have been totally delighted by this app. The brass tax: I am definitely walking more. I went from barely hitting 3,000-4,000 steps a day back to hitting over 10,000 steps, pushing my weekly mileage up over 30 miles. (This is a big deal for me, especially for a non-runner!) In weight loss terms, that adds up to 3000 extra calories burned a week, and it takes just over that to burn 1 pound of fat!
I've been far more invested in the curiosity component of this game because you don't know what’s next unless you keep walking. When you get a seedling, you don't know what it's going to bloom to be, so you are motivated to walk more to grow it to see what happens. You want to build relationships with your squad and your Pikmin because characters reveal themselves more as you go.
For the same reason you watch a good movie until the credits or read a good book until the end, you want to stick around to see what happens in this game because you’re engaged and invested in the story.
I have been really pleasantly surprised by this new experience. I wake up way more motivated to reach my step count because I want to see what happens in my own little AR world. A sneaky surprise that came with all of this too was that Pikmin Bloom integrates with real world maps. You get bonus points for walking to special landmarks and hidden gems in your community you may have previously been unaware of. Even though you are invested in the augmented reality game, you are simultaneously invested in your actual physical real world community.
It's made me feel much more connected in LA now that I've moved back here and the Pikmin Bloom universe has become a natural part of my day and something I look forward to. I give it a thumbs up, because health is about finding tools that help you feel better. If AR can help you do it, I highly recommend exploring this realm.
–Jen Widerstrom, Founder
P.S. Remember that no matter what you're going through right now, you don't have to do it alone! There are others like you in our community, where we interact on a daily basis, fight our demons, share our victories, and watch over each other as friends and accountability partners.
Together we are FÖRENA - a health & fitness community for women like you where we focus not only on our physical health but also mind, soul, relationships, and overall well-being. Become one of us now with FREE 1-month membership, and let us witness your growth! 🌱
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