Being active is good for you in so many ways. It can provide a huge range of fun experiences, make you feel good, improve your health, and is a great way to relax and enjoy the company of your friends.
Regular physical activity can:
- Help prevent heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure.
- Reduce the risk of developing type II diabetes and some cancers.
- Help build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints reducing the risk of injury.
- Promote psychological well-being.
Be active every day in as many ways as you can
Make a habit of walking or cycling instead of using the car,
Put together at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days
General Recommendations as per Fitness Australia Exercise Guidelines. https;/fitness.org.au
- To achieve health benefits, healthy adults should complete a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous (harder) cardiovascular exercise per week. You can use the perceived rate of exertion in accordance with your fitness levels to determine exercise intensity. Generally, if you are finding it difficult to talk, this would be considered a vigorous amount of exertion.
- Greater activity levels are associated with further health benefits.
- Cardiovascular exercise can be accumulated in short bouts of 10 minutes to obtain health benefits.
- In order to meet the recommended weekly cardiovascular exercise volume, content can consist of a mixture of both vigorous and moderate intensity.
- One minute of vigorous-intensity exercise is approximately the equivalent of 2 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.
- The recommended exercise levels outlined above are additional to routine low intensity activities of daily living or activities lasting less than 10 minutes in duration.
MODE • The mode of activity for cardiovascular exercise needs to be large muscle mass, rhythmic activities such as walking, jogging, swimming, rowing and cycling.
- Activities of daily living that are longer than 10 minutes in duration and of sufficient intensity to raise heart rate and ventilation to moderate levels can be used towards the weekly cardiovascular exercise target (e.g. manual labour, lawn mowing, walking to work).
PROGRESSION • Anything is better than nothing and in those individuals who are extremely deconditioned health benefits can be realized with small increases in cardiovascular exercise.
- If an individual has been inactive for some time, they will need to start slowly and build up to recommended cardiovascular exercise levels over time.
So much to do! Be healthy and active and have fun 😊
Lesley
