London: Are you sitting comfortably? Bad idea. Stand up and walk around the house. Leave your desk and jog down the office stairs. Even better — jog up the stairs. If it’s lunchtime, go and join a yoga class or head for the shops on foot. What’s to lose? You are going to feel better and live longer.
Hardly a day goes by without a new piece of research flagging up the benefits to our physical and mental health of getting more active.
On Tuesday, a study of 30,000 Norwegians by the brilliantly named Black Dog Institute in Australia found that even one or two hours’ exercise a week can help prevent depression.
On Monday, the Wildlife Trust revealed that two-thirds of its volunteers, digging ditches and building bird tables in the open air, had better mental health within six weeks.
Getting off your backside and moving about, preferably a bit vigorously some of the time, will stave off heart disease, strokes, cancer and diabetes. It can keep your blood pressure steady and helps you sleep. You may not shed pounds, but it will help keep your weight stable. It can overcome anxiety and boost self-esteem. Older people who are active are less likely to have a hip fracture or a fall.
We have the sitting disease. According to a report by Public Health England (PHE) in March, physical inactivity is one of the top 10 causes of disease and disability in England. It is responsible for one in six deaths in the UK, which is the same as smoking. It costs the UK an estimated £7.4 billion (Dh35.8 billion) a year.
If exercise was a pill, it would be the biggest blockbuster in the history of medicine.
“It is what we were made to do,” says Nick Cavill of Oxford University’s department of public health. “Everyone probably knows the basic point, but often we overlook it in our busy modern lives. We are hunter-gatherers. We were designed to be physically active all day long.
“Our bodies are still stuck in neolithic times, while our minds are in the 21st century.”
Given our ancestors were chasing dinner all day long, you might think it follows that we need to be physically active the entire time we are awake. But, thankfully, Cavill says no. Long-term studies, following active and sedentary people until their deaths, have worked out that there is a dose-response curve.
“The more exercise you do, the better it is — up to a certain level,” he says. “A marathon runner or a triathlete is not doing much better for their health than somebody who is reasonably active. Half an hour a day is what they say now — or two for the price of one if you do vigorous exercise. Every vigorous minute is the equivalent of two moderately active minutes.”
Dame Sally Davies, England’s chief medical officer who practises before she preaches, goes for a jog twice a week — even though she says she doesn’t much like it — in order to set an example. She advocates 150 minutes of physical activity a week, which is the equivalent of half an hour, five days a week. That can be walking or cycling. It should be enough to raise your heart rate, make you breathe faster and feel warmer. Vigorous activity is something that makes you out of breath.
According to NHS Choices, adults should be doing exercises on two or more days a week “that work all the major muscles [legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms]”.
And we don’t routinely lift loads much anymore. “Internet shopping is bad for you,” remarks Cavill. The answer is “anything you can think of that uses muscles.”
Dr Justin Varney, the adult health and physical activity lead at PHE, likes to talk about “physical activity”. He says the word “exercise” conjures for most of us “Lycra and exercise cycles, and although that works for some people, for others it’s like saying: ‘Let’s go and climb Mount Everest tomorrow.’”
How much exercise should we be doing?
The key to a healthy body and mind is a combination of aerobic and strength exercises several times a week, explains Dr David Broom, a senior lecturer in physical activity and health at Sheffield Hallam University. “Variety is the spice of life and we should be doing a different range of physical activity so we don’t get bored. It is also about reducing sedentary behaviour and getting up and moving around every 20 minutes.”
Babies and toddlers need to be active throughout the day, every day, to enable them to develop gross motor skills and physical literacy. This can involve a variety of movements:
- Reaching and grasping, pulling and pushing
- Lying on their stomach and lifting their body up, also known as “tummy time”
- Toddlers should be active for at least three hours a day with a mixture of light play, such as walking and moving around, and energetic play, such as running or climbing
Five to 18-year-olds
Developing bone strength is crucial for young people, as they reach their maximum bone density between the age of 18 and 20.
- Youngsters should be moderately or vigorously active for at least an hour a day, and on three days a week this should involve strengthening activities such as skipping, jumping, running and gymnastics
- Moderate aerobic activities could include walking, riding a scooter, skateboarding or cycling
- Vigorous activities include running, swimming, martial arts, rugby and dance
19 to 64-year-olds
- The main focus in this age group is aerobic activity to reduce the risk of disease and premature death, and strength training to support “activities of daily living” such as carrying heavy shopping bags.
- The minimum recommended exercise length is 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week (brisk walking, water aerobics, tennis doubles) or 75 minutes of vigorous activity (running, hockey, uphill cycling), or a mixture of both.
- Moderate or vigorous activity should be complemented with strength exercises at least twice a week, such as heavy gardening, lifting weights or yoga
- The more activity you do and the higher the intensity, the greater the benefit
65-plus
- Activities to improve balance, coordination and flexibility are extremely important for older adults so they are able to avoid falls and maintain a good quality of life.
- Older adults are also advised to exercise moderately for at least 150 minutes a week, or do 75 minutes’ vigorous activity
- Weight-bearing activities are more significant at this age so people are able, for example, to get out of a chair unaided and live independently
- There are no restrictions on the types of activities older people should do, and they should continue to do the exercise or sport they enjoy
