Putting the Pieces Together: A Mix of Activities Provides Health Benefits

So far you’ve learned about a whole menu of activities:

• Walking and increasing your steps each week
• Aerobic
• Stretching
• Strengthening
• Mind-body balance

This Active Living article:

• Explains why it’s time to increase the number of soft steps and hard steps you take each day
• Explains that this isn’t difficult because everything you do every day counts in your activity ledger
• Encourages you to put yourself and your health first and to plan other tasks around your activity time

Remember how the Week 6 Well-being article talked about what it takes to succeed at diabetes control? The article pointed out that you have to invest something — like time, energy, and maybe money — to reap the benefits of your program. The benefits are the return on your investment. Well, all the physical activities you’ve read about provide benefits, and the returns on your investment are too numerous to count. Check out this table.

Your Activity Return on Investment

Moving On Up

By now you’ve probably created your own strategies for getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day.

• You break up your day with three brisk 10-minute walks.
• You don’t take shortcuts.
• You’ve given up waiting 20 minutes for a parking place to open up right by the supermarket door.
• You walk to the post office because it’s less than a kilometer and a half from home.
• You make multiple trips up and down the stairs to put four loads of laundry in the washer, then in the dryer.

No doubt about it, you’re getting fitter and gaining great health benefits.

Now it’s time to think about increasing your activity level to help you continue to control your diabetes.
Here are some tips:

• Store your exercise clothes and equipment where you can’t miss seeing them — for instance, by the front door or the garage door — rather than in the back of your closet or drawer. Do whatever you can to keep physical activity top of mind.
• Arrange your activities into a safe and enjoyable routine that includes at least the following:
  • Warm-up phase: five to 10 minutes of light walking or gentle stretching
  • Aerobic phase: up to 60 minutes of aerobic activity (walking, swimming, dancing ... your preference)
  • Cool-down phase: five to 10 minutes of light activity to bring your heart rate down
• If you can’t do all of your activity at once, break it up into four or more 10-minute activity sessions each day.
• Focus on yourself and your health. Before you make other plans for your day, schedule your physical activity. Then work your other appointments around it.

Every Day, Every Way

Don’t forget that every kind of physical activity you do in the course of the day counts and helps you reach your activity goals. Walking along the beach in Florida, riding a bicycle to work in Seattle, and planting flowers in Ohio all contribute to strength, endurance, heart health, weight loss, and blood sugar control. And most of these everyday activities are fun.

This table shows you how many calories are burned in one hour during some of these activities.

Here’s an example of a simple physical activity calendar. Remember, you can do these activities in several short sessions over the course of the day. For instance, on Wednesday, you can take two brisk 10-minute walks, one in the morning and one at lunchtime, then do yoga for 20 minutes in the evening.

Summary

• Check your activity goals. Are you close to meeting them? If so, it’s time to get ready to move up to the next stage of your activity plan.
• Getting enough activity is not difficult to do because every physical activity you do every day can count.
• Put yourself first. Plan other tasks around your activity time.