Maintaining Healthy Levels of Physical Activity During Lockdown/While Working from Home
With the widespread lockdown and restriction of movement in a bid to contain the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, comes the need to maintain healthy levels of physical activity while staying indoors. Globally, physical inactivity is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases like diabetes, coronary heart diseases, hypertension, stroke, breast and colon cancers, osteoporosis and mental health disorders such as depression. It’s estimated that people who do not engage in adequate physical activity have a 20 to 30 per cent increase in the risk of death from all causes, compared to people with adequate physical activity.
Steps to Increase your Daily Physical Activity
Use of workout mobile applications
There are various exercises that can easily be carried out indoors without equipment. Several workout applications available for Android and iOS devices provides guides and routines with a video demonstration of such exercises.
Resistance bands will add variety to your home workout session as there are several exercises that can be carried out with them.
Skipping greatly increases the number of calories burnt, improves circulation and strengthens various muscle groups.
Such actions like pacing during prolonged phone conversations or walking up and down the staircase can increase your activity levels. In the absence of a staircase, stepping up and down a small stool can suffice and can even be done while watching the television or similar activities.
Besides the mental health benefits of yoga, it has several physical benefits such as improved circulation to the heart and brain, increased flexibility, muscle strength and tone, improved respiration and metabolism and even weight reduction.
Dancing is a good way to get your heart pumping and blood flowing while having fun.
Play with the kids
Children have a lot of energy and can engage in long periods of play. Playing with them will not only improve your physical activity but can also improve family bonding and learning for the children.
Certain house chores like cleaning (sweeping and mopping), dusting, laundry involve various levels of physical activity. So, instead of leaving it all for help or using machines, get involved and improve your circulation.
Monitoring Your Activity Level
Monitoring your daily activity level increases your self-consciousness motivation towards a more active lifestyle. Wearable fitness trackers can be used to monitor step counts, calories burnt, active time, etc. Used with a mobile application, you can also monitor your weight, blood pressure and other parameters. You can set daily step targets and can compare your activity levels with that of your friends and engage in physical activity challenges.
Finally, as you stay home to prevent the spread of COVID-19 outbreak, make a conscious effort to improve your physical and mental wellbeing.
STAY SAFE ||STAY HOME||STAY FIT||TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
Dr. Evans is a Public Health Physician in Abuja, Nigeria.
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