THE FIT FACTOR
WITH obesity and more sedentary lifestyles increasing across the world, health officials are changing the goal posts around exercise. Increasing scientific evidence contradicts the long-held belief that workouts must last 20 to 30 minutes to be effective; shorter bursts of more intense activity have been shown to be beneficial on their own.
The US government, meanwhile, updated its physical activity guidelines for the first time in 10 years, eliminating the requirement that physical activity has to last at least 10 minutes to be effective. Short, sharp timeeffective workouts for our health are the way forward.
Health officials now concede that any length of moderate to vigorous activity is beneficial. Simply by moving more, especially those who are older and less active, is the way forward.
We all need to move and in many cases move quicker, in short bursts. Things such as running up the stairs rather than walking, cleaning the house quicker, if you go for a walk put some intensity to it, depending on your level of fitness. We can all move quicker and do more in our daily routines to raise our heart rates and therefore do a mini workout throughout the day.
The next time you run or sprint for that train only to see it pull away, don’t despair, at least you have managed to raise your heart rate and given yourself a mini workout!
If you break this down over time you will see the benefits, eg if you burn an extra 100 calories per day through incidental workouts that equates to over 3,000 calories a month and over 36,000 a year, that’s just under a stone in weight.
We must not lose sight of the fact that raising our heart rate is also hugely beneficial for our health in many ways. It improves cardiovascular fitness, strengthens the heart muscle, enhances blood circulation, increases lung capacity, boosts your metabolism, reduces the risk of chronic diseases, improves mood, and promotes overall wellbeing and longevity.
Being more mindful towards this will only help our fitness level and improve our overall health.
Someone busier than you is working out right now Motivational quote of the day