At Health Plus PT, our wellness program is dedicated to helping you stay active, healthy, and energized every day. Maintaining an active lifestyle requires a balanced, patient-centered approach, and our expert guidance offers simple, evidence-based tips and exercises to keep your body strong, improve mobility, and support long-term well-being.
How to Stay Active – Health Tips
Like most Americans, you probably spend a lot of time sitting — in your car, at your desk, on the couch. Even if you balance out your time in the chair with trips to the gym.
Research shows that too much sitting can up your risk of breast and colon cancers.
Another recent study found that too much time parked in front of the TV may actually take years off your life.
Heart disease, Decreased energy and stamina, Obesity, Osteoporosis. These are just a shortlist of issues that you are more likely to develop if you aren’t staying physically active.
However, far too many Americans are getting less physical activity than doctors recommend. In fact, medical research shows that 80% of Americans aren’t getting the exercise they need to maintain optimum health.
Increasing physical activity doesn’t have to mean long, hard workouts in the gym.
Physical therapists can help you find simple ways to stay active in your daily life. Here are a few tips that you can increase your activity levels easily:
Walk around whenever you can
When it comes to staying active without the gym, walking is one of the easiest, most convenient activities you can do.
To burn calories, all you have to do is walk faster and devote more time to each walk.
For the most benefit, use a pedometer to keep track of how much you’re walking, and slowly work up to 10,000 steps a day.
Consider using a standing desk at work
Another simple way to stay active is to work from a standing desk. It’s amazing how much healthier simply standing in place is, compared to sitting.
One medical study shows that using a standing desk for about one hour per day can help reduce back and neck pain by 54%.
It can also help you burn more calories. You’ll also hunch less, meaning that neck and shoulder pain is even less likely.
Standing also boosts fitness by keeping blood sugar steadier after a meal and by encouraging more movement overall.
Attend physical therapy
Attending physical therapy sessions is yet another simple way to stay active. The most obvious way physical therapy helps is by addressing the aches and pains that keep you from pursuing your active lifestyle.
Many physical therapy sessions are a workout in themselves; they can even help you meet your weekly cardio and/or endurance goals.
Schedule Your Appointment with Health Plus Physical Therapy
Contact us today to get started and book your appointment!