Google's 'Paced Walking' feature to help to meet your exercise goals

New Delhi: Google's newly launched feature called Paced Walking will now help users meet their best walk goals for utmost health benefits with an audio beat for them to fall in step with.

The Paced Walking feature available on Google Fit will help you find your preferred walking speed -- a pace that feels natural -- and picking up that pace has health benefits similar to riding a bicycle.

"Plus, if you start walking faster, your natural pace will get faster over time," said Kapil Parakh, Medical Lead, Google Fit.

Using the Paced Walking feature will allow the users to set the right pace to start acquiring Heart Points in Google Fit which are awarded for every minute that you walk at a pace of 100 steps or more per minute. Securing Heart Points should get one well on the way to meeting the World Health Organization's recommendation of doing at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week.

According to Rob Harle, a research scientist for Google Fit, the idea is simple.

"Pop in some headphones during a Paced Walking session and we'll play an audio beat — a gentle background tick — for you to fall in step with," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

"You can use the app to change the beat speed and vary the intensity of your walks. The beat plays on top of other audio, so you can still play music or podcasts while you walk," he added.

The Paced Walking feature is available on most Android phones globally.