bouts – even if they exercise
regularly.The bottom line is...
Doing regular physical activity
is still really important for your
health. Guidelines recommend
accumulating activity of 150-
300 minutes of moderate
intensity, or 75-150 minutes
of vigorous intensity, each week.
But, even with that box ticked,
it’s important to limit how much
time you spend sedentary each
day – both your total amount
of sitting time, as well as paying
attention to how long you spend
static at any one time.
A good place to start? Research
suggests staying seated for no
more than 30 minutes at a time.
Plus, by getting up and doing
four to five minutes of steps
every half hour (even if it’s
just on the spot), the average
Australian could reduce their
daily sitting time by about 1.5
W hours, which is a good target.
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STEP IT UP
Not only are 65 per cent of
Australian adults failing to
achieve the recommended
level of daily exercise, on
average we’re spending more
than 10 hours a day sitting,
too. One way to avoid both of
those health traps is by making
sure you take enough daily
steps. Use this five-step plan
to shift your daily step count
into the healthy zone.1
First things first, assess
yourself. You’re more likely
to do what it takes to move
more, if your step count is on
the light side, once you know
where you’re currently at.
Download a free activity tracker
app (such as Steps, Walksome
or ActivityTracker Pedometer)
and use it for a few days.2
Then, set a ‘step goal’.
Use your current daily step
tally as a guide, but bear in mind
the research that proves people
who set themselves ambitious
step goals are more likely to
take more steps, as a result.
Wondering if 10,000 steps
a day is still the holy grail to
strive for, in the pursuit of good
health? It’s not a bad number
to aim for, but in reality, it’s not
actually backed up by a whole
lot of credible research. The
jury’s still out on the optimum
number of steps to take per
day, but according to a study
published last year, 15,000 steps
a day is probably more likely to
be the magic number. Want to
make it fun? Turn to page 128
and start your 10,000 steps from
Port Melbourne to St Kilda.3
Write
it down
and stick it somewhere you’ll
see it – often. Research proves that
mentally linking an action (getting
up to move around frequently)
with a visual cue (eyeballing that
big step target you’ve written
down) equals performing the
action more successfully.4
Next, make (and take!)
opportunities to step it out,
because they all add up. So, park
the car further away from your
destination – or, if you can walk
somewhere without driving at all,
leave the car at home. Take the long
way around at the supermarket, use
stairs instead of the lift or escalator
and quit paying other people to do
active things for you, such as mowing
the lawn, washing the car or cleaning
the house. The main thing is to start
thinking of every chance to move as
an opportunity, not an inconvenience.5
Lastly, track your steps. Activity
trackers might not be a cure-all,
but even if they can’t guarantee that
you’ll hit your exercise goals 100 per
cent, research has linked their daily
use to spending less time being
sedentary and taking more steps. ■exercise