5 ways to incorporate movement into your daily life- Health tips

Just as I woke up this morning, I stared at my phone screen for good ten minutes. My best friend lost his dad, which got me thinking what could the reason be? He was barely 60 and fit (in my eyes) but apparently died of a heart stroke. The doctor told us that he was fit but not active enough. We often mix fitness with being skinny, or looking lean and remain focused only till we shed that fat. Being active is more important than being fit, and its true that an active lifestyle leads to a healthy mind and body.

I have often heard people say, I don’t have the time whether its time to work out, exercise or even catch a breadth. You’d often find me in the same space, when I step into the shoes of the ones making the excuses for something as necessary as being healthy and fit, that too for my own self.

While work keeps me occupied most of the day, I spend the rest of the time on social media looking at interesting stuff and following the lives of some close friends.  Most of the activities in our lives have been replaced with gadgets, making a smart phone, laptop or both indispensible. The easiest of jobs that would require one to step out can now be easily done just by a click, and maybe even faster than the planning and execution one would put in earlier. From buying groceries to transferring money, or just buying some makeup for that party next day everything can be done online and that does make things convenient and easy, but surely decreases human interaction and effort and movement one would make to complete that task.

This sedentary lifestyle surely needs a push (pun intended). Fitness should come in the most unplanned ways where you don’t and can’t tell yourselves or others that you have time constraint. It’s time we realize the power and coordination skills of our body and exercise them. Our body is like a machine; it should be ready to run a few hours everyday for the smooth and long functioning of it. Expand your life by adding unconscious workouts to your life with all the awareness you’ve gained, and do so with the right intention.

Katie Bowman, a fitness expert, introducing movement in daily life, quotes “It’s not an aversion to comfort, it’s simply trying to change the geometry of my household, it’s really that simple. I want the places for my butt to rest to be different than the places that my butt has been resting for the past 40 years.”

Movement of the body is necessary for blood circulation and keeping the heart and mind active. An active life surely assures a longer and a healthier life. You’re able to keep your muscles moving, your weight in control and your body feeling alive due to the effect the movement has on it.

One of the easiest tasks to do is, wake up early and give yourself that extra time to workout. While enrolling yourself in a gym or a formal class, requires a lot more motivation and planning; there are certain workouts you can do while you are on the go without taking out extra time or investing too much money.

Recommendations to lead a better life:

1. Use Public Transport – Earn as you save, and get fitter in the process. Never know whom you’d meet on that metro ride. Someone you’ve longed to meet for years, or someone you meet who makes it to the longest period in your life. Not only will Public Transport induce discipline of time, it will also help in being active and being on your feet as you run to catch the bus or walk faster to not miss that train. You tend to walk from your house/office to the nearest bus stop or metro station, and that itself is a movement you do indirectly.

2. Take the stairs, reach faster and feel lighter- It’s lunch hour and you wish to rush to the canteen, just like everyone else at your workplace. Why wait for the lift? Use this as an opportunity to work those glutes and reach faster as you do your un-intended workout.

3. Keep a pet- a dog would be great and you’d have to be active to ensure his good health. Walk your dog around or meet a friend over a stroll instead of that creamy Latte.

4. Rest is best - As much as you need to meet those deadlines for which you are glued to your Mac screen you need a break time for atleast 2 hours from your phone or laptop or any possible gadget. In Ovid’s words “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop”. Take a break, by changing your place or posture. Invest that time to do some stretches or jog on the spot in your room, balcony or wherever else is your favorite spot in the house.

5. Remove your house help- or get someone who has only a restricted set of duties. That way you won’t have him even pass that glass of water you need. You’d need to get up, stretch that arm to remove that phone from charging and move those extra steps to switch off the aircon. If you count all these small activities in the day, they’d make a plentiful.

Midsection of woman carrying basket of cleaning supplies