Exercise

Tips written by Ruth Gibson (Chartered Physiotherapist at UPMC Beacon Hospital)

Physical activity is essential for good health. Increasing activity levels will help prevent and manage over 20 medical conditions and diseases including cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Exercise can also help to promote mental well-being.

Regular exercise, as well as management of diet, plays an important role in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight by balancing 'calories in' from food and drink with 'calories out' by being physically active.

All adults should try to do at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on 5 or more days per week. Moderate activity makes your breathing and heartbeat get faster and makes you feel warm. Shorter bouts of 10-15 minutes are also possible if 30 minutes is too much.

Your choice of activities should be based on what you enjoy, your general health and fitness and any disability you may have. Your healthcare professional can advise you if needed.

Recommended types of physical activity include:

• Activities that can be incorporated into everyday life, such as brisk walking, gardening or cycling
• Supervised exercise programmes
• Other activities, such as swimming, aiming to walk a certain number of steps each day, or stair climbing.

Build activity into the working day - for example, take the stairs instead of the lift, and take a walk at lunchtime

Try to reduce the amount of time you are sitting down and inactive, for example watching television or at a computer. And remember, it's worth being more active even if you don't manage to lose much weight, because it can improve your health in other ways.