Quick Fit Tips April 06 2016
If you were feeling a little unfit today, the thought of going for a run may be something that makes you want to crawl back under the duvet. The good news is that research is showing long arduous exercise is not all it takes to remain healthy. There are much quicker and easier ways to improve your fitness and longevity. If you are struggling to squeeze exercise into your day as much as you struggled to squeeze into your old pair of jeans, here are a few quick tips to get you going:
1) Just one minute of brisk exercise a day can reduce your chances of being obese by 5% for women and 2% for men. If you can run for ten minutes a day, you could add an extra three years to your life.
2) Fidget. If you have a job where you are required to sit, fidgeting is a good way of burning calories. Even better, move frequently or work standing-up when you can.
3) Get a fitness tracker, a pedometer or phone app. Just having a constant reminder about how little exercise you have done today, has been shown to get people moving more.
4) Three short bursts of 20 seconds of high intensity activity improves fitness both during exercise and afterwards.
5) Alternatively, slow down. If you are doing weight-bearing exercises, take each repetition slow and steady, not only to avoid injury but to enhance your strength.
6) Sleep. People who are tired not only eat more but veer towards more sugary foods. We even burn calories as we sleep.
7) Take vitamin D or go for a walk in the sunshine. Recent studies have shown that improves the health of your heart and makes you feel rejuvenated by improving your sleep at night.
8) Turn the heating down. The colder the temperature the more calories you burn, particularly as your body draws on your brown fat deposits.
9) Eat.
a) Some foods use up more calories by chewing them than are in the food themselves such as cucumber and celery.
b) If you have a sweet tooth, eat in silence listening to yourself chew or choose foods that make a loud crunching noise. Hearing the sound of our food, means we eat more slowly and eat less overall.
c) Everyone says the Mediterranean diet is the one to follow for longevity; alas this does not mean pasta and pizza but the Greek diet of lots of fruit and vegetables.
d) Even better, add rosemary to your food which seems to be the secret to living to beyond a hundred without alzheimers or heart disease by the centenarians of Acciaroli, Salerno.
10) Make it part of your routine: people who walk to work are up to 3kg lighter than drivers; if you want to lose 5kg, walk, cycle or use public transport instead of the car as your daily commute. Alternatively get a dog and you will walk on average 1,855 miles per year, as your dog does not care if it is raining or not.
With all this quick exercise, you need a quick way to leave a note for others. We've lots of signs for all different sports to tell people where you have gone whether it's golf, cricket, rugby, yoga, running, football, cycling, swimming, horse-riding, gardening or even walking the dog.
If you really want to make exercise easy, then create your own space at home for your work-out. Our lovely personalised maple wood signs are perfect for your own gym, yoga or even zen room, with an option to include your favourite motivational saying. It even has fewer calories than a chocolate bar and doing a few stretches as you put it on your wall will had to your daily fitness tally too.
See: http://bit.ly/13CLhOz and http://etsy.me/1C591tR for our fit and fun signs to love, inform and inspire.
Still in need of a little motivation? See our Pinterest board of fitness inspiration and information at: http://etsy.me/1qqGTRJ
