Can Pokemon Go Improve Fitness? Not That Much, According To Harvard Research

Since its launch earlier this year, Pokemon Go has become a widely popular but also controversial app, capturing the hearts of millions of fans while gaining notoriety for supposedly causing accidents. Yet another question about Pokemon Go has stirred interest for quite some time now: Can the augmented reality game, which allows real-time encounters with Pokemons, improve its players' fitness?

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that Pokemon Go can improve fitness - but only up to a certain point. According to Care2, the researchers conducted a study involving 1,182 Pokemon Go players aged 18 to 35 in the US who classified as "trainer level" users, a status achieved after two hours of playing the game.

Using data from the respondents' iPhone 6 that keeps a daily walking record, the study found that Pokemon Go players' number of steps increased from an average of 4,256 to more than 5,123 a day. That was attributed to the fact that players have to walk around streets and cities to chase Pokemons.

However, the increase in steps was observed only in the first week of playing Pokemon Go. The number of steps that players took decreased by half after four weeks, and was all but gone on the sixth week, TechCrunch reports.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, also found no interaction between the number of steps a Pokemon Go player took and other variables such as a player's age and income, and a neighborhood's walkability.

The researchers noted, however, that physical activity might be different for children or players aged below 18, who were not included in the study. They added that although the increase in walking from playing Pokemon Go was "short lived" in their study, some people can still spike their physical activity by playing the game.

Pokemon Go was not designed to be a fitness game. Still, its developer Niantic has tapped into its potential to promote fitness by adding bonuses such as rewarding players for walking certain distances.