Fitness at home: how to stay active in quarantine, according to the WHO

The World Health Organization gave a series of recommendations for people to remain physically active during confinement.

The world is experiencing an unprecedented situation. The coronavirus pandemic affects the whole world, and confinement is one of the measures that have been implemented in several countries to deal with this virus.

One of the WHO recommendations to maintain and improve health is to engage in physical activity. On its official website, it has communicated: “Regular physical activity is beneficial for both the body and the mind. It reduces high blood pressure, helps control weight, and lowers the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and various types of cancer. It also improves bone strength and muscle strength, as well as balance, flexibility, and physical fitness.”

Its director, Tedros Adhanom, communicated a series of tips to stay active at home:

Avoid sitting for long periods.

Every 20-30 minutes, you can get up for 3-5 minutes. Just get up and stretch, or better yet, take a walk around the house, up and downstairs, or walk in the garden. Just moving around and stretching a little will improve your health and well-being.

Establish An Exercise Routine

Setting a specific time to exercise helps you stay active every day. Please write it down in your diary, so you don’t forget it. Comply create a routine and adapt to new ways of working, studying, and family life under the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Set Physical Activity Goals for You and Your Family:

Choose a specific type of activity, a time of day, and/or a specific duration. Try to get each member of the family to set their own goal for themselves, an ambitious but realistic goal with a little encouragement and help from family and friends. Write down your progress on a weekly activity chart and, if you think it might help, give yourself a milestone reward, something you like.

Read More: 15 Tips And Strategies To Lead A Fitness Life

People In Isolation Exercise on A Roof (REUTERS)

Suggestions of activities to do at home according to the different ages of the people:

For Children Under 1 Year

  • Play periodically with your baby on the floor (face up). Try to do it repeatedly throughout the day when you are awake.

For Children Under 5 Years

  • Active games at home: Create games that involve physical activities that develop throwing, receiving, kicking, body position, and balance skills.
  • Active games with runs and jumps to tire the children.

For Children and Adolescents From 5 To 17 Years Old

  • Active, individual, and family games.
  • Participate in online activity classes or active games, online physical education classes, or exercise routines suitable for teens.
  • Makeup playground games at home, like jump rope or hopscotch, make up new games and quizzes to stay active.
  • Learn a new skill, for example, juggling.

Do muscle strength training activities, such as lifting weights, or improvised weights, such as bottles filled with water or sand.

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For Adults

  • Climb stairs as many times as possible; see it as an opportunity to get active.
  • Use chores to stay more physically active.
  • Engage in fun activities, like dancing.
  • Take an online fitness class or make up a routine to music that engages major muscle groups and gets your heart rate up.
  • Perform muscle-strengthening activities, lifting weights or bottles filled with water, or using your own body weight (push-ups, sit-ups, and squats).

In previous studies on the psychosomatic effects of exercise, the Completeness University of Madrid has stated that performing physical activity generates a calming effect in humans: “Acute and regular rhythmic exercise, of moderate intensity, is associated with a reduction in objective symptoms stress, both in normal individuals and in individuals with clinical symptoms.

Some Of the Conclusions of The Aforementioned Study Are:

  • Physical attitude is positively associated with mental health and well-being
  • Exercise is linked to the reduction of emotional stress
  • Long duration exercises are generally related to decreased loads such as neurosis and anxiety