Why Exercise?

Exercise and activity (moving around more) is great for the following reasons:

• It helps to boost metabolic rate and burn calories
• It contributes to weight loss and more importantly, keeping weight off
• It can increase self-esteem (confidence levels) as well as mood (it boosts the feel good hormones)
• It improves muscle tone which means leaner and great looking bodies
• It increases the level of good cholesterol in the body
• It decreases risk of diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer and osteo-arthritis

It is recommended that adults undertake 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic-exercise a week (e.g. 30 minutes five times a week). This could be fast walking, jogging, aerobics (in the studio or in water), lane swimming, tennis, netball or football etc. in addition to resistance (weighted exercise) twice a week. If you do higher intensity exercise such as HIIT then you may only need to do 75 minutes of exercise a week – in addition to resistance exercise twice a week. For more information check out the NHS Choices website.

The most important thing when it comes to exercise however, is to do something that you enjoy. See if a friend wants to take up a new hobby or sport with you.. If you have somebody else to go with then you may be more likely to keep it up (and not let the other person down!).

 

 

If you struggle to fit in exercise into your daily routine every day, then why not make the following simple swaps (every day) to help increase your physical activity levels:

• Always take the stairs and not the lift/elevator/escalator
• Make a rule that if a car journey is going to be 5 minutes or less, to walk it
• Park your car further away at work or at the shops or get off 1 or 2 bus stops early (NB this is done much easier in the Summer months!)
• Instead of just sitting during the adverts get up and do some crunches / knee lifts / tricep presses (discrete exercises that don’t take up much room!)

 

How do you stay active during the day?