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Physical
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Physical activity improves your health. If you participate in regular physical activity on most days of the week it will reduce your risk of developing many of the chronic diseases which cause illness and death.
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Contents
Making physical activity part of your everyday life has many benefits.
| Feeling better: |
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Being active gives you more energy, improves your sleep and adds fun to your day. |
| Enjoying
better health: |
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Regular physical activity helps you achieve and maintain a healthy body weight, reduce the risk of high blood pressure, lower the risk of developing non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, is associated with a decreased risk of colon cancer, is essential for achieving and maintaining peak bone mass in young adults. |
| Having
a healthier state of mind: |
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Being physically active lowers stress, helps improve concentration and boost self-confidence. |
How active are the people of Ontario?
As many as 57% of Ontarians are insufficiently active for optimal health benefits. More men are active than women. Levels of physical activity also decrease with age. As many as 56% of youth aged 12-19 are not active enough for optimal growth and development (Physical Activity Monitor 2002, Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute).
Across the country, most recent estimates indicate that 53% of Canadian adults are physically inactive (Statistics Canada, 2002), and that the economic burden of this inactivity is $5.3 billion per year. Over 2.6% of all health care costs in Canada are spent dealing with the ill health effects of physical inactivity (Katzmarzyk & Janssen, 2004).
What can you do to improve your physical activity levels?
For adults, the Public Health Agency of Canada recommends 30 - 60 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week. Examples of moderate activities include brisk walking, swimming, dancing, cycling, gardening, and playing golf. These activities will increase your heart rate but not necessarily make you breathless.
If you cannot fit 30-minute sessions into your lifestyle, add up your activities in periods of at least 10 minutes.
Even small changes like taking the stairs instead of the elevator make you more active. Start slowly and build up. It is important to choose a variety of activities from these groups: endurance, flexibility, and strength building. For more information see Canada's Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living for adults (PDF file size 19MB)
There are additional health benefits from doing vigorous activities such as jogging and aerobics but these activities are not for everyone. Some regular physical activity is much better than none.
Here are some tips to help you get started and keep you going:
- Choose activities you enjoy and can fit into your schedule.
- Set small specific goals regularly for yourself that you feel you can achieve.
- Look for opportunities to be active throughout the day.
- Find an activity buddy.
- Reduce non-active time by turning off the TV and leaving the computer.
Where can you get more information?
For more information on physical activity go to:
Physical activity for children and youth
Children and youth should be physically active every day as part of a healthy lifestyle. This helps them to build strong bones and strengthen muscles, maintain flexibility, achieve a healthy weight, improve fitness, improve self-esteem, meet new friends and increase relaxation.
Inactivity among Canadian children has become a serious problem. Parents in Ontario report that over half (54%) of children and youth aged 5-17 are not active enough for optimal growth and development. (Physical Activity Monitor 2000, Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute)
As a parent or caregiver, your child relies on you to provide opportunities to be active. If you can make physical activity enjoyable and if you can be physically active with your child, you will increase the chance that physical activity will become part of your child's everyday life.
Here are some ways to make physical activity a part of your child's day:
- Plan family activities like hiking, cycling, playing ball, skating, throwing a frisbee and dancing.
- Provide your child with opportunities to learn skills such as running, jumping, throwing, catching and kicking.
- Balance your child's day with physical activities that are fun, informal and unstructured.
- Encourage a wide range of activities in addition to organized sports such as planting a garden, playing chase, tobogganing, etc.
- Help your child find a healthy balance between watching TV, surfing the Internet, and being active.
For more information and resources on physical activity for children and youth go to:
Physical activity and pregnancy
Pregnancy doesn't have to stop you from being active. In fact, healthy pregnant women should participate in regular physical activity. It's good for both you and your baby!
Regular activity can benefit mothers-to-be in a number of ways:
- Improve posture and relieve back pain
- Relieve muscle tension
- Help prevent the development of varicose veins and hemorrhoids
- Prevent excessive gain of body fat
- Increase overall fitness, strength and flexibility
- Ease recovery after childbirth
Guidelines for physical activity during pregnancy
General
- Every pregnancy is different. Always consult with your midwife or doctor before beginning or changing your physical activity program.
- If you have been active before becoming pregnant (at least three times weekly for 30 minutes each time), and have your pregnancy care provider's approval, you can safely continue to exercise during your pregnancy.
- If you did not exercise prior to becoming pregnant, it is safest to begin a new fitness program during the second trimester, by slowly increasing the length of aerobic activity from 15 to a maximum of 30 minutes per session, to a maximum of four sessions per week. Again, consult with your pregnancy care provider.
- Strength training activities can be performed two or three times per week. For muscles to recover and become stronger, allow at least one day of rest between sessions.
- Consider aerobic activities where the body is supported, such as swimming or cycling. Some other safe activities (depending on how you feel) may include walking, low-impact aerobics and stair climbing.
- If a separation of the abdominal muscles (Diastasis Recti) has occurred, do not perform abdominal exercises as this might make the condition worse. Consult your pregnancy care provider.
- Healthy pelvic muscles will support the growing uterus to stretch easily and recover quickly after childbirth. Kegel exercises should be done several times each day. Consult with your pregnancy care provider.
- Be sensible. Take a day or two off if you are feeling more tired than usual.
- After the birth of your baby, consult with your health care provider before continuing your physical activity program.
During a physical activity routine
- Be sure to include stretches as part of your warm up and cool down.
- Drink water before, during, and after your activity to replace body fluids lost by sweating.
- Always breathe normally and never hold your breath while doing an activity (holding your breath increases your blood pressure).
- When participating in an aerobic activity, it is important to exercise at a safe intensity. When pregnant, the duration of aerobic activities should be no longer than 30 minutes. It should be performed at a 'mild - moderate' intensity: You should be able to speak without feeling breathless. If you cannot speak, slow down.
Cautions for physically active pregnant women
- Avoid activities which require sudden starts or stops, jumping, or rapid changes in direction.
- Avoid being active in warm, humid weather, especially during the first trimester or when you are ill and have a fever. Check the temperature of a heated pool before swimming. Avoid hot tubs or whirlpools.
- After the 16th week (fourth month) of pregnancy, avoid exercises which require you to lie on your back. Instead, modify them so you can do them while lying on your side, sitting or standing.
- Avoid lifting heavy weights. Light hand weights or elastic resistance bands are recommended to build or maintain upper and lower body strength and improve posture.
Regardless of your fitness history, it is important to speak with your doctor or midwife about exercising during pregnancy. To help guide your program, ask your pregnancy care provider to fill out the questionnaire PARmed-X for Pregnancy (PDF) with you. It also includes information about strength exercises and safety tips.
Further reading
Last updated February 2010
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