Minutes of Exercise!
The first two articles in this series were on numbers that require your health care provider to measure, namely blood pressure and A1C (reflecting diabetes). The third part was about a number that you can measure (BMI and waist circumference).The final article in this series is about something you can DO and measure as well – minutes of exercise performed each week.
Perhaps the greatest “plague“ of our generation is our propensity to being sedentary. It is often said that being sedentary is “the new smoking.” Evidence does show that being sedentary is equivalent to smoking in terms of increasing risk for chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Diabetes Association both recommend doing 150 minutes of exercise per week. This could be a half hour of a brisk walk five days a week. Activity that raises your heart rate is good for your heart, and to manage blood sugar, especially after meals. This could include walking, jogging, swimming and cycling. It is important to incorporate strength training to lessen sarcopenia or muscle loss as we get older. Balance training can also help with fall prevention. It can be confusing with so many recommendations!
Fortunately, the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology (CSEP) has beautifully presented guidelines divided by age on their website. They present the guidelines in categories of “sweat, step, sleep and sit”. Appropriate recommendations are presented by age category. These are presented on the website csepguidelines.ca.
Know your numbers! How long should you remain moderately active? How many steps should you take in 24 hours? What should be the maximum amount of time you should sit each day? How long should you sleep? Knowing your numbers can be the first step (no pun intended) to good health!
Dr. Bhooma Bhayana is a family physician in London and the mother of two young men and proud grandmother of three! She continues to find wonder and enjoyment in family practice despite more than 30 years on the job!
