Activity or Exercise. It is not one or the other; it’s both.

There is a continuum when it comes to fitness, ranging from activity to intense exercise; it all matters, and it is personal. What one person finds easy may be another’s challenging. What matters is that we include a variety of intensities and activities to get all the benefits.

There are many ways to measure intensity, but one that requires no special equipment is the Rating of Perceived Exertion, a subjective scale based on how you “feel” about exercise. We are pretty good at monitoring our efforts. As you practice rating your perceived exertion, you will notice that it correlates very closely to your heart rate. The RPE scale can provide appropriate estimates of physical effort and exertion, especially if you are a regular exerciser.

Activity

Activity includes all movement, including exercise. It is important to add as much activity to our day. Especially, now that we have designed activity out of our lives. Conveniences like garage door openers, dishwashers, ride-on lawnmowers, and even the remote control have reduced movement throughout the day. Things we normally had to expend energy to do are now almost effortless. Even if you exercise daily, you can still eliminate most activity from your day; you can be a fit couch potato.

Sedentary athlete?

This example from the American Institute of Cancer Research illustrates how important both exercise and activity are for our health. Being active during the day and scheduling regular exercise both confer benefits. Little things, like taking the stairs, getting up from your chair, all your activities matter. The rule of thumb is to break up every 30 minutes of sedentary time with two minutes of activity.

A study done in 2007 showed that when hotel housekeepers were informed that their job provided healthy, active lifestyle benefits, their blood pressure went down. Activities and our perception of activities are an important part of being healthy. If you haven’t been exercising for a while, starting with becoming more active is a good strategy. However, even if you exercise regularly, you still need to be active during the day.

Exercise

There is so much evidence that exercise is important for our overall health, from preventing falls, improving bone strength and heart health, to reducing mental health conditions.

The recommendations for activity are at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise, and two days of strength training per week. The good news is that the biggest benefits come from being sedentary to doing 150 minutes of moderate exercise. Even better news is that there is no upper limit; the benefits simply level off.

Being Sedentary

Breaking up sedentary time with exercise “snacks” can have many health benefits and these mini breaks don’t mean intense exercise; simply being active counts. Children who were sedentary for 6 hours a day and broke up this time by being active for 10 minutes every hour reduced their blood pressure.

To improve heart health, Dr. Charles Eaton, Director of the Brown University Department of Family Medicine, recommends replacing 30 minutes of sitting time each day with any type of physical activity. A study published by the American College of Cardiology proves that too much sitting, even for athletes, is a risk for cardiovascular disease. Researchers found that anyone can lower their risk of cardiovascular disease by sitting less.

The benefits of activity and exercise

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to what type or how intense the exercise is. What is generally agreed upon is that we need some easy, some hard and some moderate exercise throughout the week. To improve your fitness, you need to do some intense exercise. To recover from a hard workout, light activity is recommended. As we get fitter, what we used to find challenging is now a comfortable workout – congratulations, that is an indication of improved fitness. Another indisputable thing is that intensity is personal. It is based on your current level of fitness, and working within your abilities is undeniably the best way to see results.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla