Staying Active – 5 Ways to Wellbeing

For many of us life has become increasingly sedentary, with more and more people spending more time sat in front of computers as part of our daily routine.  But even for those that don’t spend as much time in front of a screen, modern life means as a population, we’re just not as active as generations before us.

We know staying active is good for us, and it’s no surprise to find it as one of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing, rather we’d be shocked if it wasn’t.  But when we all understanding how fundamental it is to our physical health, why is there such a difference in our approach?

We all know a fitness enthusiast or two, you might even be one of them.  And if so, that’s great, this pillar of wellbeing for you is covered.  But for others we need more motivation.  We often think we need more time and we are just too busy. That was certainly my excuse, until one of the busiest women I know, said to me, “if it was really important to you, you’d make the time”.  She was of course right, obviously.  There are ways I could make 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there in my day and the first thing I could do is put my phone down.

But what I’ve come to understand is some people are fantastic and being active and others are not for one fundamental reason.  Some people enjoy it and others don’t.  So the key to success, is finding a physical activity that you enjoy.  It’s also important to remember that physical activity doesn’t have to mean running, going to the gym or cycling, absolutely anything that gets your heart rate up counts.

Over the course of this topic we’ll be sharing some of the ways our foster parents stay active, so if like me you need more inspiration to find the activity you might enjoy keep an eye on our social media channels and in the meantime remember that being active isn’t just good for our physical health, it also helps our metal wellbeing too, helps us sleep better and can also help us foster our social connections too if we can incorporate activities with others.  This is certainly something we experienced when we embarked on our 'Miles for Helen' challenge a couple of years ago and so many of us commented on how much we enjoyed the camaraderie of it.

Other top tips to help us succeed is to set realistic goals, there is no point saying you are going to start walking 20 miles a week, if 1 mile is far more likely, it will help us to keep motivated and on track, try a range of activities until you find the one that fits, but mix it up so you don’t get bored and start slowly if you are no use to regular exercise and build up over time.