My name is Nick Pringle, I am a Graduate Sports Therapist currently working with the team at Bury Osteopaths. One thing that we consider very helpful for all of our clients is physical activity. No matter who you are, put simply we all need to move more and engage in physical activity.
If physical activity was a pill, everybody would be taking it on a daily basis. Physical activity is any bodily movement that results in our body using energy, ranging from a variety of sports to daily tasks such as cleaning and gardening. Think about how you move and what muscles you are using during you normal daily activities. If you’re moving and you’re making a big difference.
Physical inactivity has become our healthcare’s biggest problem being the 4th leading cause of mortality, worse than obesity and smoking, causing 3.2m deaths per year worldwide and a significant cause of developing long term conditions and therefore detrimental to our health.
Here in Suffolk only 1 in 9 people are currently taking part in physical activity and therefore here’s a brief description on some key information.
Benefits of physical activity
• Mood
• Energy
• Sleep
• Weight control
• Cardiovascular strength/endurance
• Lung capacity
Helps with and reduces the risk of
• Hypertension and clots
• High blood pressure
• Cardiac disease
• Strokes
• Type 2 diabetes
• Cancer
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteoporosis
• Depression
• Musckuloskeletal conditions
e.g. lower back painy
How much physical activity
is needed?
The following guidelines have been set out from the World Health Organisation
18+ year olds
• 150 minutes or moderate exercise per week – e.g. brisk walking, dancing or household chores
• 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week – e.g. running, fast cycling, fast swimming or moving heavy loads
• X2 strengthening exercise sessions including large muscle groups
• Reduce sedentary time
• Older adults should include balance exercises to help with mobility and the prevention of falls
5-17 year olds
• 5–17 should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily
How to get in to physical activity
Frequency – how often you exercise is important as the recovery between the activities is vital for our bodies to rebuild and repair so consider rest time thus reducing the risk of overtraining and preventing injury
Intensity – the amount of effort or difficulty of the activity should be a good balance to overload ourselves to improve but once again we need to avoid overtraining for injury prevention
Type – the most important piece of advice is that it’s not about throwing you on to a treadmill for two hours per day, there’s a vast spectrum of what we can do and so choose an activity that suits you and is enjoyable, affordable, accessible and sustainable
Time – set aside time per week to commit to exercise
It is always advised to seek medical advice before striving to achieve the recommended levels of physical activity. For further advice, information, assessment or treatment please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me using the information belo
