Improve Your Health During the Holidays

Take a walk with the Every Body Walk! free mobile app

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Nov 29, 2011, 01:49 ET

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Make the holiday season a time for health with the Every Body Walk! mobile application that launched today. The app is a fun, interactive tool to create and maintain a daily walking routine. It's an easy way to get active, stay healthy and burn calories during the holidays.

Simply download this free app from the Apple Store or the Android Market. The Every Body Walk! app is accessible to everybody, and complements a robust walking hub – powered by Kaiser Permanente – www.everybodywalk.org. The app is a perfect holiday companion – it tracks detailed walking stats.

"The Every Body Walk! mobile app makes it easy to take steps toward a healthier lifestyle. Whether you're already a walker or want to start walking, the app is a great tool you'll want to use," said Bob Sallis, MD, family physician at Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

What makes this app a total breakthrough? The Every Body Walk! mobile app allows users to monitor three important workout elements: time walked, distance covered and calories burned. Using Global Positioning System to establish the user's location, walking paths are identified from a database of thousands of maps covering the United States at www.everybodywalk.org. There's also an option to create custom walking routes using MapQuest. Whatever the course, by walking 30 minutes during a day with the Every Body Walk! mobile app, users earn a motivating badge for progressing toward the goal of walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

Walking routes can be saved in the app to create a personal walking history. The app is fully integrated with social-media platforms, so sharing messages about walks is possible via Facebook and MeetUp. The app also serves as a distribution channel for motivational Every Body Walk! videos.

The app is an interactive addition to Every Body Walk!, an online, public awareness campaign aimed at getting people up and walking – 30 minutes a day, five days a week – to improve overall health and meet adult physical activity recommendations and requirements.

A robust hub, www.everybodywalk.org contains news and resources on walking, health information, walking maps, links to walking groups, inspirational videos, and a personal pledge form designed to motivate walkers. The Every Body Walk! mobile app provides a perfect path to access this rich content. The Every Body Walk! hub is accessible on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Every Body Walk! is powered by Kaiser Permanente. Campaign partners include America Walks, American College of Sports Medicine and its Exercise is Medicine ® global initiative, American Hiking Society, AnyTime Fitness, Brazos Walking Sticks, Environmental Media Association, Everyday Health, Healthy Child Healthy World, Molina Healthcare, Power Rangers emPower, The Purpose Institute, Rails to Trails Conservancy, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, Technical Consumer Products, WalkBoston and Yummy Earth.

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.9 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter

Contacts: Patrice Smith
[email protected]
510-271-6813 (office)
510-421-7091 (cell)

David Mays
[email protected]
510-271-6676 (office)
510-459-5528 (cell)

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente