Most of us fall under one of two distinct categories. There are those of us who believe that if we workout every day for 1 hour, we need do nothing more to be fit. And then there are those of us who believe that if we spend most of our day at work and household chores, standing in the kitchen for long hours, we have no need to exercise to be fit. Which of these two is the right picture? Unfortunately neither!
Many recent research studies find that those who exercise regularly, (at least 45 minutes every day), spend the rest of their day in a sedentary way, obviously applauding their own efforts at being fit. This is actually more detrimental than those who are active right through the day. The fact that you pump a little weights or walk a few miles or even run for half an hour, does not give your body the advantage of being lazy for the balance 23 hours! One of the primary roles of muscles is movement and keeping them active right through the day is what keeps them healthy. A one hour a day workout doesn’t give you the license to 23 hours of rest!
On the contrary, those who believe they don’t need exercise ought to consider the following. Standing for long hours in the kitchen is not an exercise. Household chores that involve pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging, carrying heavy objects etc can be considered as effective ways to stay fit. This includes gardening, painting, heavy cleaning, shifting, climbing stairs etc. On the other hand, washing dishes don’t count as fitness activities – sorry! If you believe ‘I live an active lifestyle, I am on my feet the whole day’ – please consider this. Standing and walking are primary qualities of a healthy body. So is lifting, pushing, bending, pulling, squatting, lunging and twisting. Ageing is nothing but the process by which you begin to lose these operational faculty. Just because you can do it now does not guarantee you can do it forever. There is enough evidence to show that people who engage in moderate exercises everyday do benefit from leading healthier lives!
It is a fact that as a race, the longevity of humans has increased. But you ought to know that it also automatically has drastically increased the number of years spent with disease. So in reality we have increased the lifespan by adding more number of years in pain rather than more number of healthy years! It becomes imperative to counter this and ensure that longevity added in to the healthy individual and not when he is sick. Exercise alone has the capacity to do that.
Dr.I-Min Lee, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical school in a recent study concluded that more leisure time physical activity was associated with longer life expectancy across a range of activity levels and BMI groups. The magic lies in a balance between household chores and exercise. As I say so often, and probably repeatedly in this very column – ‘You don’t play a sport or dance to exercise. You exercise to play better, dance better’. In the same way a structured half hour workout, followed by an active lifestyle right through the day is what will keep you fit. So don’t let them excuse themselves from household chores on the pretext of a workout.
Everybody doesn’t have to become an athlete. But every body must get off the couch!
Written by Gita Krishna Raj | Published in Food & Health in November 2013
