As part of our #HealthyRhinos week we are working with Leeds Public Health to offer our fans advice on healthy lifestyles. Our Health Week will culminate with fans getting the opportunity to have a health check at the Rhinos’ game against Hull KR this Friday 22nd May.
Each day during Health Week we will take a look at ways to make positive choices to help you lead a healthy lifestyle. Today we look at advice on staying fit with a guide to physical activity.
Did you know?
- Adults should aim to do at least 2½ hours of moderate intensity physical activity a week.
- Activity minutes can be built up by doing 10-minute bursts of activity spread out over the day.
- Benefits can also be achieved by doing 75 minutes of vigorous (high) intensity activity spread across the week.
- Try to reduce the amount of time spent sitting or doing nothing. This may be at work, in front of the computer or at home in front of the TV.
Why is important to be active?
- It’s a great way to have fun and spend time with friends and family, as well as meet new people.
- Reduces the risk of developing, and the management of, conditions such as coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke and certain cancers
- Keeping active helps to maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints.
- Physical activity is a great way to combat anxiety and low level depression, it helps reduce stress levels and lifts mood, as well as helping to increase self-esteem.
- It helps with healthy weight maintenance.
Key facts
- Over one in four women and one in five men do less than 30 minutes of physical activity each week, so are classified as being inactive.
- Physical activity levels decline rapidly with increasing age. In England only 17% of men and 13% of women aged 65-74 are physically active.
- Physical inactivity is a leading cause of death in developed countries, responsible for an estimated 22-23% of Coronary Heart Disease, 16-17% of colon cancer, 15% of diabetes, 12-13% of strokes and 11% of breast cancer.
- The cost of physical inactivity in England, including direct costs of treatment for the major lifestyle-related diseases, and the indirect costs caused through sickness absence, is estimated at £8.2 billion a year.
Top tips for increasing physical activity
- See where you could start to build in 10 minute bouts of physical activity into your week, whether a lunch time walk, putting some music on at home and dancing, or doing some gardening.
- Find activities you enjoy doing, it could be something you enjoyed in the past or something new.
- Explore a new sport. There is a lot out there for anyone at a less competitive level, such as ‘back to’ sports, walking football, ‘no strings badminton’ and many more.
- Some people find it helpful to write down a weekly plan to help you see when it may be easier to fit in some physical activity. It may also be easier to stick to if it’s in the diary.
- Activity can be a great way to clear your head after a busy day. A 15 minute walk after dinner could give you some much needed time-out.
- Arrange to meet a friend, colleague or family member to do an activity with, or find a group activity where you’re meeting new people. It’s sometimes easier to keep motivated if you know you’re meeting up with someone.
- If you’re goal driven, then think of something realistic and achievable you could work towards such as doing a 5k fun run, or setting a goal for the number of lengths you’d like to swim over the next year, such as swimming the English Channel by swimming 30 lengths a week over the year.
- If you spend a lot of time sitting during the day, try to find active alternatives. Walking regularly or even just standing up is better for you. Small changes to your daily routine can make a big difference.
Key tools and resources
Leeds City Council website – Information about activities in leisure centres and the community, including timetables available to download, along with information about upcoming events and activities is at:
www.leeds.gov.uk/sport
Leeds Let’s Get Active – A programme of free activities to support people to become more active includes free timetabled leisure centre activities, along with a rolling programme of community sessions:
www.leedsletsgetactive.co.uk
British Heart Foundation National Centre – Resources, training, information and guidance that will help professionals to encourage people to become more active: www.bhfactive.org.uk
NHS Choices – Lots of information on physical activity, along with tools such as the couch to 5k podcast:
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/Whybeactive.aspx
Creating Connections – Aims to create a sport and physical activity pathway for disabled people by creating connections between sport, the health sector and disabled people's organisations.
https://www.wysportcc.co.uk/register