Make Your Christmas Merry and Alive with an Alternative to Exercise
Recently, I heard my friend Jason complain, “I don’t like holidays. My family comes and they interfere with my training regimen.” It’s hard to tell whether Jason is a dedicated exerciser or just a scrooge. Regardless, he very bluntly explains a reality that many regular exercisers experience come holiday season. So, what can we do to relieve the tension between spending time with family and scratching the exercise itch?
Instead of giving you the traditional answer to wake up at 5:00am and get your run done before the festivities begin, I propose an alternative solution . . .
During the Holidays- Choose Lifestyle Physical Activity
The benefits of lifestyle physical activity are overlooked and even dismissed as a legitimate and beneficial method of improving health and fitness. Caspersen and colleagues clarifies the difference between physical activity and exercise in that physical activity is “any bodily movement produced by the skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure.” Exercise on the other hand refers to “planned, structured, and repetitive bodily movement done to improve or maintain one or more components of physical fitness.” For example, it’s physical activity when you shovel your snow and it’s exercise when you walk or run on the treadmill. If exercise and physical activity are done for the same duration and at the same intensity, they achieve the same health-related benefits.
Thus, instead of running or walking on your treadmill for your usual 30-45 minutes during your holiday travels, it’s okay to replace your regular exercise regimen with friends and family via moderate intensity lifestyle physical activity. Holiday examples could include:
• Rock around the Christmas tree, or dance to your favorite music.
• Make a snowman and snow angels with your kids.
• Go sledding, then pull your kids in the sled up the hill!
• Put your snow blower away and shovel your snow.
• Instead of playing cards, play an active game of charades.
It is important to note that for it to benefit health and fitness, the intensity of the physical activity must be at least moderate. On a 0-10 point scale where zero is resting and ten is maximal effort, moderate intensity is a five or six which is a perception of “hard” effort. Furthermore, physical activity that is rated at seven or higher is vigorous and achieves even greater benefits for health and fitness.
In summary…
Lifestyle physical activity counts. You don’t have to be in spandex at a gym for physical activity to improve your health and fitness.
Feel Alive this Christmas
Often times people feel overwhelmed, spread thin, and exhausted through the holidays. The good news about movement is that it doesn’t leave us feeling even more tired. Instead, research shows people feel better when they are more physically active. Exercise and physical activity decrease feelings of stress, increase feelings of energy, and improve overall quality of life. Therefore, when you feel like you don’t have the time, space, equipment, transportation, or any other barrier to exercise that arises more frequently during the holidays, remember lifestyle physical activity as an effective alternative to move often and feel alive.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
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References:
Caspersen, C. J., Powell, K.E., & Christenson, G. M. (1985). Physical activity, exercise, and physical fitness: Definitions and distinctions for health-related research. Public Health Reports, 2, 126-131.
Nigg, C. R., & Harmon, B. (2018). The Sednetariness Epidemic– Deomographic Considerations. In S. Razon & M. L. Sachs (Eds.), Applied Exercise Psychology. (5-14). New York: Routledge.
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