Everyone knows that exercising is important to stay healthy, but it can be hard to get going and stay active. Whether you are already an athlete or lack the motivation to even get started.
hiMoment is here to help you think differently about movement and integrate it in your daily life.
There are plenty of opportunities every day to get moving. We simply need to be mindful and turn inactive moments into active ones.
For example, whenever you’re waiting for friends, for the bus or for a meeting, you can use that moment to move. Stop drop and squat! Do some light stretches and get some extra steps in. Small tweaks each day can lead to big changes.
Research has shown that time spent sitting is strongly associated with a high mortality rate. Over 120 000 healthy individuals were asked how much time they spent sitting and how physically active they were.
Researchers found that sitting over 6 hours per day compared to sitting for 3 hours per day was strongly associated with death. This was independent of how active the people in the research were.
The first step towards health and movement is to sit less! (1)
Movement is fun! But people tend focus on how much effort it is or the time it takes. Make moving fun by thinking of ways you could enjoy physical activity.
Instead of taking the bus home, walk or jog. Listen to your favourite songs while you do it. Think about the type of activities you enjoyed as a child and give them another go.
Working out with others not only motivates, but makes the experience more enjoyable, so maybe it’s time to join a team, club, fitness class or start your own.
Walking impacts our health and well-being greatly. It’s not only good for our heart and muscles, but also for our brain. Ideally, take a break roughly every hour to go for a short walk.
Each step forward pumps blood through your body. It’s the fresh boost of oxygen which your brain appreciates.
Stand up when you take your next phone call and walk around.
Journaling for movement keeps you motivated to incorporate walking in your daily life.
(1) Patel, A. V., Bernstein, L., Deka, A., Feigelson, H. S., Campbell, P. T., Gapstur, S. M., Colditz, G. A., Thun, M. J. (2010) Leisure Time Spent Sitting in Relation to Total Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of US Adults, American Journal of Epidemiology, 172, 4, 2010, 419–429.
(2) Hallam, K. T., Bilsborough, S., & de Courten, M. (2018) “Happy feet”: evaluating the benefits of a 100-day 10,000 step challenge on mental health and wellbeing. BMC psychiatry, 18(1), 19.