How to Include 1 Hour of Exercise into Your Daily Routine

Posted on 02 Aug 2016 by Anna Scott
This week the Lancet medical journal released new data from a study of physical activity across 1 million people, leading scientists to suggest that 1 hour’s moderate activity a day can offset the risks of an early death linked to a desk-bound working life. The benefits of incorporating exercise into our daily routine isn’t exactly news, but the findings in this most recent study reveal some stark realities – those in the study who sat down for 8 hours a day but were physically active had a much lower risk of premature death than those who sat down for less but were not active. So in summary: sitting down won’t kill you, as long as you’re walking around for a bit every day too.

The good news here is that even if you have a desk job, you can easily reduce the risks associated with this by incorporating some exercise into your routine. But how can you do it without disrupting your day and in a way which means it can become a regular habit? If you don’t have the time or money to sign up to a gym membership, here are a few suggestions to help you get the regular moderate exercise you need…

 

Walking


TWalking through train stationhis doesn’t have to incorporate huge distances, and it’s possible that you’re already part of the way there. So if your walk to work takes 15 minutes, that’s 30 minutes of walking a day, which means you’re half way towards reaching the recommended target without even thinking about it. The important thing is to make it brisk walking, so increase your speed to work up a bit of sweat if you find you’re more of an ambler than a speed walker. To include more walking time, make small changes to your usual habits – take the stairs instead of the lift, get off one bus stop before your usual alighting point, walk to the next tube station instead of your nearest one – all of these will help you make up that hours’ worth of moderate exercise a day. If you work from home, use your lunch hour to take a walk to the park, or perhaps you could consider getting a dog – not only will you have a work companion to help stave off the loneliness but they also need to be walked twice a day, after all…

 

Take Regular Breaks


Work breakThere’s nothing like sitting in front of a computer screen all day to decrease your productivity as well as giving you a headache. Taking regular breaks from the screen is always good advice, so why not combine this with a few steps to make up that hour? Go and get a bit of fresh air instead of sitting down and looking at your phone (exchanging one screen for another probably isn’t for the best) and your health will thank you for it.

 


Track Your Progress


Walking up stepsWe’re guessing that being able to track how many steps you’re taking each day will help you keep up the habit much more than if you’re just relying on guesswork. You can use Argos promo codes to order Fitbit items that can easily measure your progress, but there are other plenty of apps you can download to your devices that will do a similar job. And there’s always PokemonGO, which has been heaped with praise for its ability to get kids (and adults) moving. So you never know, if you’ve become a PokemonGO addict in the last few weeks, you might be smashing those exercise targets without even realising…

 

Home Exercise


Exercise at homeIf you can’t afford/don’t have time to go to the gym then all is not lost – it’s never been easier to exercise at home thanks to the many, many exercise videos available online. Even if you just combine a 20-minute routine with your other daily moderate exercise then you’ll be getting that hours’ worth of exercise easily. This then leaves you room to gradually increase your home exercise time to get even more benefits.

 

 

 

Of course, signing up for gym membership or exercises classes are a great idea too, but hopefully we’ve shown you how easy it is to incorporate that hours’ moderate exercise into your day with minimal expense and disruption. If you do want to go one step (or several steps) further, why not consider investing in some home gym equipment with Gym Company discount codes? There’s nothing like an exercise bike staring at you from across the other side of the room to guilt you into moving. You can also use Athleat promotional codes to save on other sporting accessories to motivate and inspire you on your exercise quest.

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