One of the easiest ways to incorporate exercise into daily life is by first acknowledging its importance. Once you genuinely grasp the necessity of moving your body to ward off disease and premature death, it’s crucial to implement simple changes that lead to drastic results.
1. Start Your Day Stretching
Stretching when you wake up in the morning is the best way to open up your range of motion and increase flexibility. Incorporating stretching into your morning routine may relieve back and neck pain throughout your day.
My favorite are the 10-minute back pain Yoga videos on YouTube. When I commit to doing them, my posture and pain levels improve. Ten minutes? No excuses!
2. Always Take the Stairs
Society has grown accustomed to escalators and elevators, but there is always a staircase option. Use it. Walking up and down stairs is a fairly intense exercise that raises your heart rate quickly, improving cardiovascular health. Taking the stairs also shapes and strengthens your tummy, legs, and bum.
3. Exercise While Watching TV
Get a walking pad or work up a healthy sweat on a stationary bike while watching your favorite sitcoms, reality shows, or primetime dramas. Both pieces of workout equipment are pretty dull on their own but are easy, repetitive motions that ensure your body is moving.
The exercises are simple enough not to interfere with enjoying your favorite TV shows. Alternatively, I’ve heard incredible things about the Pelatonin Bike and all of the different workout instructors who push you through various degrees of cycling.
4. Get a Standing Desk for Work
Get a standing desk for work and work-from-home offices. You burn more calories standing than sitting, especially when shuffling back and forth. Standing desks are essential for those living sedentary lifestyles. You can even use your walking pad with them.
Sitting all day increases your risk of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and premature death. Johns Hopkins cardiologist Erin Michos, M.D., M.H.S. says, “Even if you’re doing 30 minutes per day of physical activity, it matters what you do the other 23 hours of the day.” So, moving many times throughout the day is critical for optimal health.
5. Set Reminders to Move
As someone with ADHD, it’s all too easy to hyperfocus on work and forget entirely to get up and move from my desk. Unfortunately, that feeds into a sedentary lifestyle and quick weight gain. Do you relate?
Setting reminder alarms to get up and move your body may seem silly or obnoxious at first, but it quickly becomes a habit that makes you feel better. Set an alarm every hour to 90 minutes and take 10-15 minutes to do a quick workout, take a walk, stretch, or dance to your favorite upbeat songs.
6. Use a Fitness App
If setting a ton of alarms sounds daunting, utilize a fitness app for the best ways to incorporate exercise into daily life. There are dozens of fitness apps that remind you to move, prompt you to stretch, work with you on goals, and count your daily steps.
7. Brush and Squat
Another easy way to add exercise to your busy day is to do squats while brushing your teeth. Brushing your teeth for two minutes creates the perfect time to incorporate a few reps of squats into your daily routine.
8. Park Further Away
One of the simplest ways to ensure you get some extra steps into your day is to park further away than necessary. Parking a further distance at work is excellent, but you can make it a habit — for example, parking by a cart return in a grocery parking lot that isn’t by the entrance.
9. Take 15-Minute Chore Workout Breaks
One of the best benefits of working from home is the ability to multi-task daily chores into mini workout breaks. Set a timer for 15 minutes, get up, and do your chores with a purpose. For example, do your lunges while vacuuming the floors, dance while doing dishes, and walk in place while doing laundry. Every little bit of movement counts.
10. Swap Your Chair for a Ball
Have you ever sat on a fitness ball? They are an incredible way to incorporate exercise into daily life. The American Sports and Fitness Association explains that sitting on fitness balls improves posture, relieves back pain, strengthens your core, enhances balance, boosts energy, reduces stress, and improves focus. There’s the added bonus of it burning more calories than sitting still.
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Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and Jesus.