• Mood

• Focus

• Stress

• Sleep

Long-term effects of being physically active include lower risk for some diseases, improved blood pressure, and healthy weight maintenance.

Let’s review some of the basics of physical activity.

How Much Exercise Do Adults Need?

Experts recommend that adults engage in 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. In addition, it is recommended to do muscle-strengthening activities at least 2 days a week.

• • Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise: movement that makes the heart beat faster (examples: brisk walking, yard work).

  • Muscle-strengthening: movement that makes muscles work harder than normal (examples: push-ups, weight lifting).

Children ages 6-17, should aim for at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily.

Finding Motivation

Most people would agree that they prefer to spend time doing something they enjoy. If someone doesn’t like running, lifting weights, or lunging, they probably won’t do those things very often.

Find enjoyable physical activity! Whatever involves moving counts – gardening, a dance party in the living room, walking with family or friends, etc.

Keep It Simple!

Fancy equipment or a gym membership is optional to be active. Be creative and think of simple ways to be active without spending a dime.

When setting a goal, start simple and build! Start by making a goal to take a walk once a week. After a few weeks of meeting that goal, bump it to two weekly walks.

Setting goals that are too high can cause discouragement. Start with what you know you can do!