Fitness And Health: What Is Considered An Active Lifestyle?
Aug 15
What is considered an active lifestyle? Is it just about making movements? Exercising? Shopping? Gardening? Waking up early every day to run or jog? Or is it more than that? By definition, an active lifestyle is integrating physical activities like exercise, walking the dog, aerobics, and playing to your daily life. Some people tend to develop a sedentary lifestyle because of injuries. If this is the case, try going to a physiotherapist, a professional that manages physical deformity, injuries, and disease. They may provide an exercise program suitable for the patient to promote health and wellness.
Lifestyle Types: What you Need to Know
Active lifestyle prevents you from being sedentary, a lifestyle where you stay seated or inactive for an extended period. Any physical activity that keeps you moving (from lightly active movements to vigorous activities) is part of an active lifestyle. This might include sports, riding a bike, and going to the gym.
However, an active lifestyle does not include activities that keep your body idle. This includes book reading, watching TV, and the likes. A sedentary lifestyle means that you keep on sitting or not making movements throughout the day.
You should ditch a sedentary lifestyle and switch to an active lifestyle as it has many incredible benefits. For instance, it can help you lose weight and stay healthy at the same time.
Sedentary Lifestyle
People who practice sedentary living are at higher risk of diseases. They also tend to have weak physical health and significantly weak immunity. A sedentary person typically does minimal physical activities, including:
- walking the dog
- shopping
- gardening
- no moderate to vigorous daily activities
- if you are not intentionally exercising for at least 30 minutes per day, you may be considered sedentary
- spend his time sitting (typically due to work restrictions like desk jobs, bank teller)
Unfortunately, the majority of the US population is deemed to be sedentary.
Lightly Active
A lightly active lifestyle can be achieved if you spend 30 to 45 minutes of your time doing moderate to vigorous activities. This would include:
- daily activities such as walking, gardening, shopping, house cleaning, and the likes
- daily moderate exercise like jogging (average weighted adults can burn 130 to 160 calories per day)
- intentionally adding vigorous activity to the program at least once or twice a week (deliberately focusing on health, fitness, and improving activity levels)
- Spending more than 2 hours per day on feet (examples; teacher, salesperson, nurse)
Active Living
In this category, you do more physical activities than an average person. You spend most of the hours of your day doing physical activities. Some of the examples are:
- Activities on a daily living including walking, cleaning, watering plants, and more.
- Intentional daily exercise for about one and a half hours per day to burn 450 to 580 calories.
- Adding intensity to the activity, for example, adding 15 minutes more to your usual 30-minute jog.
- Workers like waitresses and street-sweepers are included in this category.
Very Active
Very active people are those who spend the majority of their daily life on the move. They are also the healthiest ones among all mainly because of their chosen rigorous daily activities. For instance, athletes go to training every day, which improves their stamina, strength, and immunity at once. However, due to the nature of their lifestyle, they are also prone to accidents causing oral injuries. If this is the case, visiting your dentist should be your priority.
Here are the things included in the daily life of a very active person:
- daily life activities
- daily exercise that is equal to a four to five-hour walk at four mph, burning 1, 150 to 1,400 calories
- increased intensity of vigorous exercises
Benefits of an Active Lifestyle
It’s easier to do daily activities. Daily physical activity conditions your lungs, heart, and muscles. It improves your strength and prevents you from getting tired quickly.
Weight control. If you want to maintain a healthy weight, a 30-minute jog per day can help you stay in shape. Doing so will encourage your body to use the calories it obtained and prevent calories from turning into fat.
Health improvement. Daily physical activities lower your risk of developing heart disease, cancer, and stroke. It also helps in regulating your blood pressure and blood sugar levels. At the same time, it decreases your cholesterol. Active adults with arthritis can move easier and experience less pain.
Stronger bones and muscles. Strong bones and muscles have plenty of benefits. It protects you from falling caused by losing balance and prevents osteoporosis. Your jaws can also benefit from strengthening your bones and muscles for better mastication and digestion. You can click on this link if you need further assistance and guidance with your dental health.
Mood booster. One of the best things about daily physical activity is its ability to improve your mood and keep stress at bay. For example, aerobic exercises can decrease the signs of anxiety and depression. Additionally, daily exercise can help you sleep better.
Tips to Stay on Track
Switching to an active lifestyle is not as easy as it sounds. You might end up getting frustrated if you do not follow a pattern and set a goal. So how exactly are you going to stay active and maintain it? Refer to the tips below:
Begin slowly and work your way up. Take your time and remember that it is a slow process. It does not happen overnight, and you will not get results in an instant. To do this, you can do a 30-minute activity a few minutes at a time. This will condition your body and mind and give you an idea of your physical limits. If the exercise is too challenging for you, rest for a little while and do it again.
Search for fun activities. Being physically active does not necessarily mean spending hours at the gym. It can be done by swimming, participating in sports, or wall climbing. There are a number of activities to choose from that you can enjoy. To make it more enjoyable, bring your friends and family along.
Reward yourself. Lastly, reward yourself every time you reach a goal. This will keep you motivated and disciplined. You can reward yourself by eating in a fancy restaurant or buying yourself new clothes.
If you’re looking for a clinic that can help you achieve a healthy body and mind, please visit True Health Medical in Potts Point today.
References:
Benefits of an Active Lifestyle (https://www.drugs.com/cg/benefits-of-an-active-lifestyle.html)
How to choose the proper activity level for the calorie-intake calculators? (https://antranik.org/proper-activity-level-for-calorie-intake/)
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