Physical Activity for a Healthy Living

 

Have you had to work from home for the past few months? Working on a project? Spending long hours sitting at the computer screen. Could even be as casual as binging on your favourite movies for hours at a stretch, spent extra hours at that TV screen? Then this post is for you.

If you’ve had to work from home during this COVID period, chances are you’ve probably been living a sedentary lifestyle like never before.

Sitting for hours at a stretch increases the risk of developing heart disease, diabetics and other chronic diseases. This is because long hours of inactivity is associated with a slowdown in metabolism which affects the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels, blood pressure and body fat break down.

...Now don't move off just yet.

Be active, sit less.

Engaging in 30 minutes of physical activity daily (5 times a week) is advised in order to reduce our risk of these chronic diseases. Our risk for these disease increases as we grow older. It is therefore important we adapt to healthy habits (exercising, healthy eating etc) in our younger years to be able to enjoy our older years.

Tip: Always break up long periods of sitting. Stretch and walk around in between breaks for 5 minutes.

Fun ways to get that 30 mins of physical activity.

• Walking. Now is that time to take a stroll round your area, do that grocery buying. Take a break, move around.
• Jogging. Best time to do this is right after you get out of bed. Second best time? In the evenings. You could also incorporate an on-the-spot jogging (stationary jogging)
• Recreational dancing. You know, those step ups
• Cycling. You want to do a little warm up (stretches) before going ahead to this
• Household chores. Yeaa, they’re physical activities in itself. Now is the time to take those steps to do the dishes you left for later. You know, move more, sit less?
• Skipping, Gardening. The list is not exhaustive, pretty much any movement activity you can think of that would require you moving more (being less sedentary). Have a nice day! And remember move more, sit less.

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