Today, February 2, is Go Red for Women Day, wear red to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease and help save lives. In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. But heart disease is preventable, and by increasing awareness, we can make a difference.
In addition to knowing your numbers (total cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and BMI), being physically active helps prevent heart disease. There are many ways to stay active while going about your day. Here are a few ideas:
Staying active while commuting
Studies have shown that active commuting is positively associated with fitness in both men and women, and walking is seen as the most accessible way to increase physical activity. Also, research shows that active commuting increases adherence to activity recommendations. When walking or biking the entire commute isn’t possible try incorporating these activities by walking or biking to transit to help achieve your physical activity goals.
Commuting alone is stressful so try joining a carpool or vanpool to reduce the stress of your commute and meet new people.
Staying active around the house
Cleaning your house, doing dishes, gardening, washing the car, carrying groceries and organizing them in your pantry and other chores can help you keep active.
Kids and families activities to keep active
Kids need at least 60 minutes of exercise per day to stay healthy. It is best if they can go outdoors and play, bike, hike, and other activities. Allowing your children to walk to school is an easy way for both you and your kids to be active every day. But there are many fun ways to stay active indoors as well – use a Wii Fit to play tennis, baseball, etc., hula hoop, freeze dance, scavenger hunt, balloon volleyball, and more.
Seniors staying active
Walking is a great way for seniors to keep active, but other activities such as swimming and water aerobics can be beneficial for people who can’t walk.
We hope you can incorporate some of these ideas into your daily routine. If you need help finding new ways to incorporate more activity into your daily commute, let us know, we would be happy to help.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2736383/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16905031/