Modern Day Exercise

We all know that exercising is good for us. It offers incredible benefits that can improve nearly every aspect of your health from the inside out. It can help with weight loss, strengthen your bones and muscles, but it can also make you feel happier, reduce stress, help you sleep better, and it can even help you live longer. Research shows it can reduce the risk of major illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Exercise is the miracle cure and preventative we have always had and always will!

But sadly, modern life has led to us overlooking the benefits of exercise and our health is suffering. Technology has made all our lives easier, but at a cost! Nowadays, more jobs require less physical effort so fewer people are doing manual work. Our TV’s and computer screens have become much more entertaining discouraging physical activity. Transport has become easily accessible and used more often than necessary. Daily activities have become far less demanding with the likes of online shopping. Previous generations were more active naturally through work and leisure, but today we must find ways of integrating activity into our daily lives. But how much is ‘enough’?

The NHS have provided physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 on how to stay healthy. Physical activity has been broken down into 3 categories: Moderate, vigorous and strength exercise.

Moderate exercise refers to a less intense form, achievable by anyone. You can go for a walk or a light swim, or even lug around your lawn mower or hoover doing household chores! Most people should be able to talk while working at a moderate level and your heart rate should increase slightly.

Vigorous exercise is more intense and requires more effort like jogging, riding a bike or playing sports - football, squash or gymnastics for example. Vigorous exercise will raise your heart rate significantly and you shouldn’t be able to say more than a few words without pausing for breath.

Strength exercise refers to any exercise that works the muscles against resistance, anything from press-ups to dead lifts or even something you can fit in around your day – for example digging or shovelling when gardening. Strength exercises are counted in reps and sets. For each exercise you should try to do at least 1 set of 8 to 12 repetitions.

The NHS recommends:

Moderate activity – 150 minutes per week

(with 2 strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

OR

Vigorous activity – 75 minutes per week

(with 2 strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

These NHS guidelines are a great stepping stone to becoming the healthiest version of yourself – once achieved consistently, you will be able to do more and more! We are all busy in our own ways but in today’s world we must find ways of integrating activity into our daily lives. It’s only a total of 1 or 2 hours of cardio and 10 minutes of strength work twice a week. Is it really that much to ask to help maintain your health? 😊