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5 Physical Activity Ideas For Those Who Hate Exercise

Written by Dr. Pramod Mane on Tue, 01 August 2023

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Activities such as dancing, gardening, doing house chores, dog-walking and shopping are also forms of physical activities and provides health and immune-boosting benefits.

Not everyone likes the idea of getting up early morning, getting into your active wear, tightening your shoelaces, and running your way to good health! We are not lazy, but we simply do not like the idea of exercising. Laid back mornings are more peaceful and calming, than pumping up your muscles and breaking a sweat.

For those, who match this person, here are some unconventional ways, rather fun ways, to help you move more at home, and remain active and healthy.

Remember that moving your body is important for good immunity, and moving doesn't only mean gym-ing and exercising. There are a whole lot of activities that are much more interesting than running or jogging and provide you ample health benefits.

Any kind of physical activity has been shown to boost the immunity by improving the number of immune cells that help fight microorganisms, helping the immune cells communicate better with each other and promoting a controlled immune response against infections.

Here are five simple ways to sit less and move more, to improve your physical activity without putting additional effort:

1. Dance your way to good health

If you want some entertainment with a bonus health benefit, dancing is the way to go. Dancing is almost equal to a full body workout as it involves movement of different parts of the body. The best part about dancing is that you can do it anywhere, it could be in your room, in your garden, in your balcony or anywhere you wish. Move more, move better, for better health!

Dancing promotes active living, requires no physical equipment, other than simple shoes for some specific type of dances. Depending on your choice and capacity you can go for low, medium or high intensity dances. Few examples of dancing forms of exercises include aerobics, Zumba, Salsa, Hip-hop, Belly dance, etc.

Dancing helps to maintain a mental and physical balance, relieves stress and promotes overall well-being. All these together can have a beneficial effect on your immune function. So, grab your pair of shoes, turn on the music and get started with your favourite choice of dance!

2. Do some gardening

You may be wondering how gardening would help as a physical activity. Gardening provides great opportunities to move different parts of your body. Growing foods in your own garden is the best way to refresh your mind. These activities may include simple bending, cutting, plucking, digging, planting, raking, etc.

For example, when you are lifting things from the garden, your arms and abdomen are being engaged. When you are bending to dig, your arms, knees and legs are in action. When you are raking/sweeping the garden, your shoulders are doing the job. Through these movements your upper and lower body are being involved. This helps to strengthen your muscles and improve your joint flexibility.

You can avail the health benefits of gardening simple activities like walking around in your garden, plucking extra weeds, arranging plants in your garden and move to higher intensities once your body is ready for it.

3. Re-think house chores

Your house chores may include a wide variety of daily activities such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, mopping, vacuuming, washing dishes and the list could go on. However, they may vary according to each person's individual needs.

You may have observed that vacuuming for a long time causes pain in your arms, back and abdomen. This is an indication that your core muscles are being engaged. When you are mopping the floor, you are walking around and moving your arms in different directions. You tend to run up and down the stairs to bring things, this increases your heart rate, as in cardio.

For optimal health benefits of house chores, you can divide each of your chores into 30=minute workouts. While doing these chores you can listen to music for mind diversion. When you follow this method, there are lesser chances of you getting bored. At the same time, you are moving different parts of your body for a balanced physical activity. Bet, you never knew that mopping your floors can help your body make fighter immune cells!

4. 'You' let the dog out

What's better than walking with your four-legged best friend?

If you are one among thousands of dog owners, you are likely to be more physically active than others and avail the health benefits of dog-walking. Dog walking is no doubt good for dog, but equally good for the health and well-being of the dog-walker!

When you have a dog, you are forced to take a walk at least for 20 minutes a day, even if you don't want to. We often don't realise that this is adding to our physical activity as well. Walking your dog is one of the easiest and fun forms physical exercise. You can take a slow/brisk walk with your dog which can provide equal benefits as doing a cardio exercise.

5. Shop till you drop

Did you know that there is one thing you could get for free when you go shopping? Yes, it is physical exercise! Shopping is a unique way to keep your body physically and mentally active without even realising. Shopping also causes your body to secrete a feel-good hormone that makes you happy. Do we need any more reasons to do this?

When you go to the grocery store/mall, take the stairs instead of the elevator, carry those shopping bags in your hand, take the longer route to walk to your shop. These are some different ways to keep your body moving while shopping.

At the end of the day, it's all about keeping your body physically active to hit that high immunity level. It doesn't matter which way, keep going with these simple and effective methods. Take up any activity, and just move your body, because rolling stone gathers no moss!

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Dr. Pramod Mane

A Doctor of Medicine (MD) in Pharmacology., currently based in Mumbai, India, Dr Pramod Mane, comes with an experience of more than 20 years of working in Medical Affairs in the Pharmaceuticals & Nutraceutical Industry. Director of Medical Services at Mega Lifesciences since 2008, Dr Mane has been associated with several MNCS in the areas of Medical Affairs, Medical Services, Medico-marketing, Pharmacovigilance & Clinical trials in his illustrious career.

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1 Comments

  1. Ladaprim Thavornteerased

    Sat, 01 July 2023, 8 months ago

    Good idea

    Reply
    • GHBY Team

      Mon, 17 July 2023, 8 months ago

      Thank you, glad to know you find it useful.

      Reply

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    1. World Health Organization: Physical activity
    2. AARP: Household Chores May Be Secret to Living Longer  
    3. Nature: Dog owners are more likely to meet physical activity guidelines than people without a dog: An investigation of the association between dog ownership and physical activity levels in a UK community
    4. Michigan State University: Does gardening contribute to daily physical activity recommendations?
    5. Medline Plus: Dance your way to fitness 
    6. Culos-Reed SN, Stephenson L, Doyle-Baker PK, Dickinson JA. Mall Walking as a Physical Activity Option: Results of a Pilot Project.
      Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement.(2008);27(1):81-87.

    Our team of experts frequently monitors developments in the health and wellness field, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

    Current Version

    Aug, 01 2023

    Written By

    Dr. Pramod Mane