ACTIVITY
If you want to maintain a healthy weight and avoid life-threatening conditions like cardiovascular disease, then keeping active is imperative. There are many types of physical activity, it doesn’t just mean sweating it out at the gym. Walking to the shops, vacuuming and even ironing burns calories but whether this sort of activity is enough to affect your health is not yet clearly defined.
This doesn’t mean you need to exercise for an hour at a time as smaller bouts of 15 minutes count towards the target but what is “moderate intensity exercise”?
Brisk walking, swimming, cycling, dance, sports like football or netball are moderate intensity exercise so count towards your target. If you walk, it may be worth getting a pedometer to measure the number of steps you take. Adults are recommended to do 10,000 steps daily and for children it is 12,000 for girls and 15,000 for boys.
Energy Balance
In an average person, physical activity only uses up around 10% of calories per day (around 200 calories if you are the “average woman”). Although this can vary enormously, it can be as high as 70% in competing athletes or those with heavy manual jobs.
The below shows the average number of calories used when undertaking the below activities for 30 minutes:
| Activity | Calories Used |
| Walking | 105 |
| Gardening | 159 |
| Dancing | 135 |
| Cycling | 186 |
| Dusting | 99 |
| Ironing | 45 |
| Cleaning Windows | 84 |
| Tennis | 216 |
| Football | 210 |
| Running | 291 |
Your heart is a muscle, by undertaking a little bit of activity every day you are exercising it and making it strong. Your levels of HDL cholesterol will increase and your risk of heart disease will decrease.
Bone Strength
Your bones grow stronger if you undertake weight bearing or resistance exercise, reducing the risk of developing osteoporosis in later life.
Weight bearing exercises are those where your feet and legs are supporting your body weight. For example running, skipping, dancing (make sure you wear supportive footwear).
Resistance exercises use muscle strength. For example using gym equipment, weight lifting or press ups.
If you need any help with developing an appropriate exercise routine please contact our former Army physical training instructor on 0800 612 4701 or click here
