How Much Physical Activity do You Need for Good Health?

Thirty minutes a day is all it takes to reap the well-documented benefits of exercise. The Victorian Government’s site Better Health Channel explored some of the various ways that regular exercise can improve our lives.

Advantages of physical activity

The benefits include weight loss, lower blood cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and stronger bones, muscles and joints.

Those physical improvements translate into a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and even some cancers. People who exercise regularly also recover more quickly from heart attacks.

As if those benefits were not enough, exercise is worth it simply because it leaves you feeling more energised, relaxed and happier. Exercise has even been shown to help lift depression.

How much?

To garner these advantages, the National Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults recommends 30 minutes of moderate to intense exercise a day. You can easily incorporate this amount of physical activity into your daily routine walk or cycle instead of taking the car, for example. Add some more intense activity, too, such as netball, running or an aerobic gym class.

Remember that your 30 minutes does not even have to be accomplished in one stretch. Break it up into three 10-minute bouts for the same positive effects.

To motivate yourself, try to see physical activity as an opportunity, not a liability.

Source:http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Physical_activity_its_important?open

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The Australian Institute of Fitness

The Australian Institute of Fitness (AIF) is the largest and longest established fitness training organisation in Australia, with dynamic training methods and expert course coaches nationwide - spanning fitness, massage and nutrition. The AIF qualifies more fitness professionals than any other provider in Australia, as well as offering a broad range of continuing education courses (CEC), upskilling resources and partnership programs for existing industry.