Being Active

But in today's world, the majority of people don't have time to go to the gym every day.
But is there a way to stay active: simply by doing the chores we have to do anyway and burn calories at the same time!
The University of Birmingham monitored how much physical work allows us to work out.
On average, all except two of the everyday tasks that were studied, counted as moderate intensity exercise! The graphs below show the results from the indoor, and outdoor activities. Ironing and dusting both scored below 3 METs but all of the others had a score higher than 3 and so count as moderate intensity exercise.

MET stands for Metabolic Equivalent:
this is basically just a measurement that is used for expressing the energy cost or the calories burned when doing a particular physical exercise. So 1 MET is basically the energy equivalent for a person who is at rest. And when a person does some other form of physical exercise this causes the energy equivalent to increasing, and this is an indication of the change in the rate of intensity of both of these physical activities that you are performing. So if you perform a physical activity and your MET is supposedly 3 then this means that you are spending 3 times the energy that you would normally spend when you are resting. So to get yourself in the right mindset, put on some upbeat music and start your cleaning activities!

Here also come some more ideas of activieties that you can do:
Playing with kids gets you moving in a unique way that doesn't feel like exercise. "Jumping rope, hula hooping, and playing hopscotch or tag are all great ways to 'exercise' without going to the gym. All of them force you to move quickly, and often you have to be agile.
If you are enjoying music, get up and dance — even if it is only for five minutes, those short periods of movement will add up. Are maybe you are searching for dancing classes? Zumba? Tango? Flamenco? You would be surprised what you can sign up for and what will elevate your heart rate.

Do you enjoy being outdoor, getting some fresh air? Here are some further activity suggestions:
Exercise at work. Do you have a 30-minute meeting at work? Have a walking meeting instead. Steve Jobs was known for doing this. Walking is an easy way to saty in shape and it requires only a pair of supportive and comportable shoes. Besides it is an activiety that you can do pretty anywhere. Even a 15-minute brisk walk is enough time to get close to 1,5 km walked.
A similar suggesting is to take a walking tour of your city. This is a fun way to spice up your routine and you can learn something new and the same time being active. You can also try Geocaching. Geocatching means working out, socialization and being on a treasure hunt, all at the same time.
Hiking can be a powerful cardio workout that allows several perks at once: nice views, fresh air, and the sounds and smells of nature. For a 80kg person person, hiking burns about 310 calories per hour.

source:
www.nhs.uk
www.birmingham.ac.uk