Did you know that heart disease is the second leading cause of death in Canada? The Honourable Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, Minister of Health recently announced that February is Heart Month. Over the course of the next three weeks, I will write about three different Lifestyle Choices that we can control to improve our heart health. This week’s focus is on Increasing Physical Activity.
The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology has published 24-hour movement and activity guidelines for all age groups, from infants and toddlers to older adults (For specific guidelines go to this link: http://csep.ca/CMFiles/Guidelines/CSEP_PAGuidelines_0-65plus_en.pdf)
For adults ages 18-64, the recommended amount of physical activity is at least 150 minutes each week, accumulated in bouts of 10 minutes or more. If you don’t want to sweat the numbers, just move more! Make it your mission to find forms of exercise you like and will stick with.
Did you realize that:
- 10 minutes of stretching is like walking the length of a football field?
- 2.5 hours of walking every week for a year is like walking from Thunder Bay to Wawa?
- 1 hour of dancing every week for a year is like walking from Thunder Bay to Atikokan?
- 20 minutes of vacuuming is like walking one mile?
- 30 minutes of grocery shopping every second week for a year is like walking a marathon?
Make it your mission to find forms of exercise you like and will stick with. Find ways to build more opportunities to be active into your daily routine. Your heart will thank you!
