From the book Foundations of Physical Activity and Public Health, written by Harold W. (Bill) Kohl, III and Tinker D. Murray, community wide informational campaigns are saying by participating in daily physical activity you can increase your caloric expenditure to 16.3% on average a day. This number may not seem like a lot to most people, but the big picture here is that this can be done through physical activity, not exercise. The difference between physical activity and exercise is the amount of energy exerted at one time. Physical activity is just any daily activity such as grocery shopping, walking your dog, play Frisbee, throwing a football, taking a walk around the block, walking up and down the steps throughout the day and much more. Exercise is a planned routine your going to do with a set goal to burn calories, run a certain distance, and lift weights. Most people think they need to exercise for 3 hours a day every day to be in top physical condition, but you don't. Adults need 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity physical activity and 75 minutes a week of vigorous physical activity. That is over the course of 7 days, not one day. All in all, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and being physically active to expend 16.3% more calories a day is not hard, all you have to do is be conscious of your activities throughout the day. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, even if you are on the 7th floor.
I'm not gonna lie, I know I need to spend more time being physically active, and I do take the elevator every now and then. However, I understand that even the smallest efforts will eventually go a long way. Especially in today's age where we are so overrun with technology, I wish more people knew of the benefits of being physically active, even if it is just taking the stairs instead of the elevator. That makes me excited for our major though, since we get to advocate physical activity as our profession!
ReplyDeleteI know I am very active and sometimes to me that is a problem because I don't eat enough to make up for how much I am active. I agree people need to know about the benefits of physical activity, if only we could take away elevators and easy access to places, make people do the hard work and make them work to get to where they want to be, as bad as it sounds that would have to be the case. I wish a lot more people were active because I love seeing people who go out there and put the effort in, I appreciate seeing that!
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