According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), every person should get up to 30 minutes of physical activity daily. Being active is crucial, especially if you spend a better part of your day sitting at work. Apart from keeping you fit, being active has numerous other benefits, as we shall see below. This article discusses how to be more active at home. Regular physical activity is one of the most crucial things for better health. Adults who engage in vigorous or moderate physical exercise can gain various health benefits.
Every person can achieve health benefits from physical activity regardless of their ability, age, shape, ethnicity, or size. Some early benefits of physical activity on human brain health occur immediately after engaging in moderate or vigorous physical activity. They include improved cognition and thinking for children aged six to 13 years. Adults experience reduced short-term anxiety feelings. Regular physical activity promotes your judgment, learning, and thinking skills as you age. It can also reduce the risk of depression, helping you sleep better. Other benefits of regular physical therapy services and activities include the following.
Weight Management
Physical activity practices and eating patterns play a crucial role in weight management. Consuming more calories by drinking and eating more calories than you burn exposes you to weight gain. To maintain a healthy weight, you must engage in moderate physical activity for a minimum of 150 minutes weekly. Different people need different amounts of physical activity to manage their weight. You may need to be more active than others to maintain or reach a healthy weight. You must engage in regular vigorous physical activity to lose excess weight and keep it off. You also need to monitor your eating patterns and reduce the number of calories you drink or eat in a restaurant.
Reduced Health Risks
Engaging in physical activity help can lower the risk of cardiovascular-related diseases like stroke and heart disease. Regular physical activity can reduce your blood pressure and regulate your cholesterol levels. A physical therapist can help you determine the right amount of activity you need to keep you healthy. Many people who engage in regular physical activity have a lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Metabolic syndrome is a combination of excess fat around the waist, low high-density lipoproteins cholesterol, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, or high triglycerides. Being active can also lower the risk of colon, breast, bladder, lung, and kidney cancers.
Strengthened Muscles and Bones
Protecting your muscles, joints, and bones is crucial as you age as they support your body, helping you move around. Muscle-strengthening activities like weight lifting can help you enhance and maintain your muscle strength and mass. This is crucial for older adults who usually experience reduced muscle strength and mass as they age. Walking is one of the most convenient and easiest ways of staying active while at home. All you need to burn a few calories is to walk faster and invest more time in walking.
Where possible, use a pedometer to track how much you’re walking. Strive to achieve at least 10,000 steps daily. Walking is beneficial, whether walking to your local shop or inspecting your landscaping work in the backyard. Strive to walk briskly for more extended periods. If you can’t walk around your neighborhood, use a step-exercise video at home. According to experts, you can burn over 200 calories in 30 minutes by walking briskly, depending on the workout’s intensity and your weight.
How to Be More Active at Home: Stand Up Regularly
Besides being sedentary for many hours, many people who work from home consume unhealthy meals such as pizza. Such a lifestyle leads to an accumulation of calories every day. Using a stand-up desk can help you become more active. According to personal training experts, standing puts more pressure on your body than sitting, enabling you to burn more calories. Standing for the better part of your day increases your leg endurance and strength. If you don’t have a stand-up desk at home, consider taking regular breaks to stretch and engage in some physical activity hourly.
A dog can increase your physical activity levels. Pets require regular activity and can become your accountability partner to walk around daily. Walking your dog can help you burn up to 200 calories hourly. Cleaning your house is one of the most effective ways of being more active. Clean the entire compound and complete street and sidewalk repairs where necessary. Cleaning swimming pools involves the use of various muscle groups unknowingly. Try to squeeze your buns as you clean and tighten your abdominal muscles for some minutes during regular breaks.
How to Be More Active at Home: Stretch at Your Desk
Sitting for long hours can result in numerous health complications like weakening and tightening of the body, especially the hip and back areas. It can also trigger back pain and headaches, making it hard to remain productive and focused. Studies suggest that engaging in physical activity for 10 minutes can stimulate blood flow and relieve muscle tension. If you experience extreme muscle pain, consult any of the chiropractors in your local area. Engaging in physical exercises in your home office can make a big difference. For instance, a rear shoulder stretch is one of the simplest yet effective physical activities you can do at home.
It helps ease shoulder strain resulting from prolonged sitting. Hold one of your arms across your body to perform this stretch and draw your elbow to your chest. You can also stretch your arms over your head, either folded or straight. While on this stretch, you can relax your eyes by facing away from your computer screen. Besides your shoulder muscles, this physical activity stretches your triceps and upper back. Hold each of these poses for ten to 39 seconds.
How to Be More Active at Home: Engage in Body Rotations
Rotational exercises help strengthen your core and improve your hips and upper back mobility. They also enable you to support your lower back and are a great way of stretching your entire body. To rotate your neck, turn your head gently from side to side and stretch the muscles on the outer part of the neck gradually. Stretch each side of the neck for ten to 30 seconds. To rotate your trunk, you want to ensure your feet are firmly on the ground. To turn your chest, ensure your feet are firmly on the floor and rest one arm at the back of your chair. Now rotate the upper body toward the arm resting on the chair. Rotate each side for ten to 30 seconds.
To rotate your waist, rest your hands on the waist and ensure the feet are at the shoulder’s width. Slightly bend forward from your waist and turn the upper body clockwise, then anticlockwise. Rotate your hips by positioning your hands on the core with feet at the shoulder’s width. Rotate your hips clockwise, then anticlockwise. You can also engage in yoga rotation, one of the healthiest physical activities at home. Sit on the ground with your legs crossed. Twist your body to the right and left as much as possible. The twisting pose stretches your body, energizes your spine, and helps stimulate internal organs and eliminate fatigue.
How to Be More Active at Home: Balance Activities
If you’re looking for a slightly challenging yet fun way to engage in physical activities at home, consider purchasing a balance board. A balance board may help users develop proper posture while countering spine slumping. Balancing on a board can strengthen the deep muscles in the torso that are hardly worked out. You can try different exercises on a balance board. However, you first need to master the art of standing on it for approximately 30 seconds, keeping an upright posture, and the spine neutral. Once ready, attempt rocking side to side or front to back on the balance board. Do planks with your forearms or hands resting on the balance board only when you feel confident. You don’t need a board to improve your coordination and balance. You can try less or more advanced physical activities at home based on your skill level.
How to Be More Active at Home: Go Swimming
If you have access to a pool at home, swimming can be an effective method of physical activity. Swimming pools are a great place to get a full, complete workout. Besides being fun, swimming offers a wide range of health benefits. Swimming works the whole body without putting pressure on the muscles, joints, and skeletal system. Regular water rental physical activity can positively impact people suffering from heart disease, asthma, arthritis, and diabetes. Swimming can also keep ligaments and joints flexible and loose. You can burn calories, strengthen the heart, and increase lung volume by engaging in swimming.
How to Be More Active at Home: Exercise on a Fitness Ball
A fitness ball is one of the best equipment for physical activity at home. It’s easy to deflate and cheap. You can sit on a fitness ball while working in your home office. That way, your body will constantly be attempting to balance itself, allowing you to strengthen your abs and practice better posture. Using a fitness ball at home can facilitate squatting and stretching. Some fitness ball exercises include: Kneel in front of the fitness ball with your forearms on the ball’s side but closest to you.
Roll it forward while extending the forearms and using the abdominal muscles to regulate the wobble and maintain body steadiness. Roll the fitness ball gradually to the start while ensuring your back remains flat. You can also do beginner squats using the fitness ball. Position the fitness ball between the wall and your lower back. Doing so supports your back while increasing the movement range in the squat. This technique also prevents the knees from moving past the toes.
How to Be More Active at Home: Fitness Ball Crunch
Lie your back on the fitness ball and maintain a 90-degree angle bent on your knees. Your feet should remain firmly on the ground. Position your hands at your temples. Contract your abs to move your torso up gradually. Pause at the top before leaning over the ball. Doing so will help you stretch your abs. To stretch on the ball, lie with your back entirely supported. Where necessary, place your hands on a wall for balance. Relax your head, neck, and hips on the ball. Gently allow the arms to fall towards the floor and along the sides. Stretch deeply in the chest and core.
How to Be More Active at Home: Try Abdominal Exercises
Strengthening your abdominal muscles may relieve pain and improve your body posture and strength. To develop your ad muscles, consider doing a minimum of three sets of abdomen-related exercises at least three times weekly. Sit-ups are some of the healthiest physical activities to start with when building your abs. Begin by lying on your back with your knees bent. Maintain the knees at a 90-degree angle and the feet firmly on the floor. Cross your arms above your chest or position your fingertips at the back of your ears. Raise your torso and bring it close to your thighs while ensuring your feet remain flat on the floor. Return to your starting position and repeat the sit-ups up to ten times. You can do sit-ups to exercise different muscle groups by lowering your back or lifting your upper back from the floor.
We live in a fast-paced world where people are too busy to visit the gym. However, physical activity at home can be fun, rewarding, and energizing. If you notice the results of your workout, you’ll be more encouraged to exercise. The exciting thing about exercising at home is that you can do it anywhere – in the kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom. If you are looking for motivation to exercise, get your whole family involved. This can also be a fun bonding session. Exercising is not easy, and sometimes you’ll need professional help.
