Physical activity for life
This blog was inspired by a British Journal of Sports Medicine blog I read last week. Click here for the link – it’s worth reading. In that blog, Nash Anderson, told of this fantastic statement he’d heard from a patient:
“People ask me why I go to the gym all the time. They ask me what I am training for. I am training for life!”
Anyone who’s read any of our blogs before will know how much this resonates with us and how closely aligned this is the way we think. Physical activity is behavioural medicine for the prevention and treatment of disease.
We too would love to see the emphasis shift towards the long-term health benefits of physical activity, only we would take it a step further and also move the focus from exercise and training to all the different types of activity we do as part of our lives.
Physical activity has multiple dimensions that we can take advantage of to gain the numerous health benefits associated with being active – it’s not just exercise. In fact, many people really dislike exercise – that’s why they don’t do it! But, not all physical activity is exercise. The key is to find what “counts” for us – it is likely we are all already doing something – we just need to find out what it is for us. Once we know what counts, each of us can choose what we want to do to optimise our physical activity – we can choose the activities we enjoy, then we’re more likely to keep doing them.
For some, it might be a weekly spinning class or 18-holes of golf, for others it’s walking the dog or going shopping. There’s no right or wrong way – there are many different ways to harness all of its protective properties because it has many dimensions, each known to have clear biological and health benefits. The personalised multidimensional physical activity profiles visualised in the KiActiv® system, created by our partners at the University of Bath, motivate, engage and enhance understanding to empower you to change your physical activity so you can enjoy a longer, healthier life.
