Well done on making it to week 3 of 5 of the January BOOST challenges! By now you will hopefully be working on adding more water, fruit and veg into your daily routine and have started to notice the positive changes in your health. Please get in touch with us to let us know how you are getting on. Who knows, you might even inspire someone else to get started on their own BOOST journey.
Time to get started on your 3rd BOOST challenge. Rate your energy levels each day out of 10 and see if you notice an increase.
How can moving more benefit you?
Over 80% of people worldwide are considered sedentary, and a sedentary lifestyle is the 4th leading cause of chronic disease. According to the Healthy Ireland survey in 2016, a whopping 40% of Irish people would like to be more active but a busy lifestyle seems to be getting in the way.
There is strong evidence to support the multiple benefits of physical activity to health and wellbeing. It promotes healthy growth and development in children and young people. It contributes to cognitive function. It is important for healthy ageing and helps to maintain quality of life and independence when we grow older. It is also a preventative factor for many non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes.
Exercise is a key ingredient when it comes to boosting energy levels.
How can you boost your activity?
Everything counts – you don’t have to go to the gym to get the benefits; taking the stairs instead of the lift, cycling or walking to work, getting up to move every hour, cleaning the house, gardening and playing with the kids all help to build up your daily movement.
Use an app or fitness tracker – if you struggle to get motivated, why not use technology to track your progress? Start observing your current daily steps and then aim to increase it by 1000 per day until you reach 10,000 steps a day. You could even compete against friends or colleagues to make it more interesting.
Make it enjoyable – research has illustrated time and time again that finding an exercise you enjoy will mean you are more likely to keep it up. Play around with different forms of exercise until you find the one you enjoy. Dancing, boxing, yoga, Pilates, surfing, etc. all count.
Make it social – find an exercise buddy or a sociable class. Having fun and making friends when exercising will make it more enjoyable. Parkrun is a free and social 5km run that takes place across Ireland every Saturday. You can run or walk, bring the buggies and the kids, and improve your time each week.
Schedule it in – set aside 30 minutes 5 times a week and stick to it. Make exercise a priority.
Best of luck with this week’s challenge. Start small and aim to build it up every day.
Well done on getting to week 5 of the January BOOST challenges! By now you will hopefully be drinking more water, eating 5 fruit and veg a day, sleeping more and moving your body regularly. These healthy habits are not only manageable, realistic additions to your day-to-day life, but they will have a huge impact on your health long-term. From physical to mental health, each of these habits will help to BOOST your energy and health long-term.