Ten days ago, I went on my annual trip to the Royal College of Chiropractors Winter Conference in London. A lot of it was dull, very dull.
However, at the conference was a speaker named Ann Gates who talked about the importance of exercise for all sorts of health conditions. These were things that I already knew but that I had almost forgotten.
Her main point was that if exercise was a drug that you could get from your GP, if would be hailed as a miracle. A drug that reduces all causes of death by 30%!
The other information that I liked was the amount of exercise that different groups of people require. As you can see from the pictures below, 0-5 year old's need 3 hours of moderate intensity exercise per day. 5-18 year old's need 60 minutes per day and everyone over 18 years of age needs 150 minutes per week MINIMUM.
However, at the conference was a speaker named Ann Gates who talked about the importance of exercise for all sorts of health conditions. These were things that I already knew but that I had almost forgotten.
Her main point was that if exercise was a drug that you could get from your GP, if would be hailed as a miracle. A drug that reduces all causes of death by 30%!
The other information that I liked was the amount of exercise that different groups of people require. As you can see from the pictures below, 0-5 year old's need 3 hours of moderate intensity exercise per day. 5-18 year old's need 60 minutes per day and everyone over 18 years of age needs 150 minutes per week MINIMUM.
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So what is moderate exercise I hear you cry? Well, examples of moderate exercise include:
As the rather excellent NHS website states "Moderate activity will raise your heart rate and make you breathe faster and feel warmer. One way to tell if you're working at a moderate level is if you can still talk, but you can't sing the words to a song."
I would strongly encourage everyone to visit the NHS website I mentioned above by clicking HERE. The page you will be taken to is for adult recommendations but there are links to the children's versions too.
As you will see when you visit the NHS website, their are different ways to get your quota in. You can do 75 minutes of vigorous exercise instead. As a general rule, you can half the amount of time required if the exercise is vigorous.
Examples of vigorous exercise include:
The recommendations for adults also state that strength training should incorporated into our routines. However, the easiest way to think of it really is to do 30 minutes of some sort of exercise every single day. That way, you've got it covered.
I think the most important thing to take away from all of this is that most of us could do a little more than we do currently. As the picture at the top of this article shows, the benefits of exercise really are incredible and we can all access those benefits with some fairly small changes.
Thanks for reading,
Matthew George
- Brisk walking
- Water aerobics
- Riding a bike on level ground or with few hills
- Doubles tennis
- Pushing a lawn mower
- Hiking
- Skateboarding
- Rollerblading
- Volleyball
- Basketball
As the rather excellent NHS website states "Moderate activity will raise your heart rate and make you breathe faster and feel warmer. One way to tell if you're working at a moderate level is if you can still talk, but you can't sing the words to a song."
I would strongly encourage everyone to visit the NHS website I mentioned above by clicking HERE. The page you will be taken to is for adult recommendations but there are links to the children's versions too.
As you will see when you visit the NHS website, their are different ways to get your quota in. You can do 75 minutes of vigorous exercise instead. As a general rule, you can half the amount of time required if the exercise is vigorous.
Examples of vigorous exercise include:
- Jogging or running
- Swimming fast
- Riding a bike fast or on hills
- Singles tennis
- Football
- Rugby
- Skipping rope
- Hockey
- Aerobics
- Gymnastics
- Martial arts
The recommendations for adults also state that strength training should incorporated into our routines. However, the easiest way to think of it really is to do 30 minutes of some sort of exercise every single day. That way, you've got it covered.
I think the most important thing to take away from all of this is that most of us could do a little more than we do currently. As the picture at the top of this article shows, the benefits of exercise really are incredible and we can all access those benefits with some fairly small changes.
Thanks for reading,
Matthew George
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