 Tips for Being More Active
There are 1,440 minutes in every day. Schedule 30 of them for physical activity! Adults need recess too! With a little creativity and planning, even the person with the busiest schedule can make room for physical activity. For many folks, before or after work or meals is often an available time to cycle, walk or play. Think about your weekly or daily schedule and look for or make opportunities to be more active. Every little bit helps.
Consider the following suggestions:
- Walk, cycle, jog, skate, etc. to work, school, the store or place of worship.
- Park the car farther away from your destination.
- Get on or off the bus several blocks away.
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
- Play with children or pets. Everybody wins. If you find it too difficult to be active after work, try it before work.
- Take fitness breaks – walking or doing desk exercises – instead of taking cigarette or coffee breaks.
- Perform gardening or home repair activities.
- Avoid labor-saving devices – turn off the self-propel option on your lawn mower or vacuum cleaner.
- Use leg power – take small trips on foot to get your body moving.
- Exercise while watching TV (for example, use hand weights, stationary bicycle/treadmill/stairclimber or stretch).
- Dance to music.
- Keep a pair of comfortable walking or running shoes in your car and office. You’ll be ready for activity wherever you go!
- Make a Saturday morning walk a group habit.
- Walk while doing errands.
Tips for People Who Have Been Inactive
Use a sensible approach by starting out slowly.
- Begin by choosing moderate-intensity activities you enjoy the most. By choosing activities you enjoy, you’ll be more likely to stick with them.
- Gradually build up the time spent doing the activity by adding a few minutes every few days or so until you can comfortably perform a minimum recommended amount of activity (30 minutes per day).
- As the minimum amount becomes easier, gradually increase either the length of time performing an activity or increase the intensity of the activity or both.
- Vary your activities both for interest and to broaden the range of benefits.
- Explore new physical activities.
Source: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
WALK THIS WAY
Keep in step with this list of common do’s and don’ts |
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Walking is the most natural and popular form of exercise. Stepping out for a stroll will enhance your life socially, mentally, and physically. But in order to keep walking part of your routine, you need to have healthy feet. Follow this advice from the American Podiatric Medical Association and enjoy the secret to good health and longevity:
Do's |
Don'ts |
| Stretch and warm up appropriately. |
Ignore pain. |
| Start your walking program slowly and gradually increase distance, time or pace. Walking too much, too fast, too soon will only lead to injury. |
Walk at night. Walking at night is not only dangerous to your safety, but is also more likely to lead to injury. |
| If you’re over 60 or if you have health problems, check with your family doctor before beginning a walking program. It is also recommended for those who are 35-60, substantially overweight, easily fatigued, excessive smokers or those who have been physically inactive for some time. |
Walk off or with an injury. Have foot and ankle injuries treated by your podiatrist or other injuries treated by your family doctor. By having injuries treated promptly, you will be able to return to your walking more quickly. |
| Drink plenty of water before and after you walk. |
Walk on icy, wet or uneven sidewalks. |
| After every walk, stretch again to improve circulation and decrease buildup of lactic acid, the chemical by-product that causes muscles to ache. |
Wear uncomfortable or inappropriate shoes. Improper shoes can lead to injury and painful conditions such as blisters and ingrown toenails. |
| Wear a sock made to wick sweat away. Acrylic is preferable to cotton. |
Smoke! Not only does smoking lead to many diseases, but it also affects your breathing and decreases the circulation to your legs. |
| Walk at a steady pace, brisk enough to make your heart beat faster. |
Walk more than five times per week. Walking everyday denies the body the rest time it needs to repair minor injuries that could lead to more serious ones. |
| If you walk in the evening, wear clothing with reflective material for your safety. |
Walk outdoors during extreme weather periods. Instead walk in a gym, mall, or at home on a treadmill. |
| Try to walk on asphalt or trails instead of concrete, as concrete is a harder surface and can lead to more injuries. |
 Overcoming the Barriers to Physical Activity
Aside from the many technological advances and conveniences that have made our lives easier and less active, many personal variables including physiological, behavioral and psychological factors may affect our plans to become more physically active. In fact, the 10 most common reasons adults cite for not adopting more physically active lifestyles are (Sallis and Hovell, 1990; Sallis et al., 1992):
- Do not have enough time to exercise
- Find it inconvenient to exercise
- Lack self-motivation
- Do not find exercise enjoyable
- Find exercise boring
- Lack confidence in their ability to be physically active (low self-efficacy)
- Fear being injured or have been injured recently
- Lack self-management skills, such as the ability to set personal goals, monitor progress or reward progress toward such goals
- Lack encouragement, support or companionship from family and friends
- Do not have parks, sidewalks, bicycle trails or safe and pleasant walking paths convenient to their homes or offices.
How can I figure out which barriers affect me most?
The Barriers to Being Active Quiz can help you identify the types of physical activity barriers that are undermining your ability to make regular physical activity an integral part of your life. The quiz calculates a score in each of seven barrier categories. Once you've taken the quiz and identified which barriers affect you the most, look at the Suggestions for Overcoming Physical Activity Barriers for suggestions on how to overcome them.
Source: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
 Body Mass Index
Health care providers use body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference measures to assess a person's risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or other health problems. This Calculating your BMI page tells you how to measure your BMI and waist circumference and what these measures mean for your health.
Act 1220 of 2003 (PDF) empowers a panel of experts to develop nutrition and physical activity standards for schools and requires the Body Mass Index (BMI) Assessment be conducted on all children in public schools.
Preliminary results of the BMI Assessment recently released by Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI), showed that 40% of the children in Arkansas public schools were overweight or at risk for becoming overweight. |
