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Exercise - what type, how much?Published by Bupa's health information team, healthinfo@bupa.com, April 2008 This article looks at the health benefits of exercise and offers advice on how much exercise to do and how to do it safely. The UK Department of Health recommends that everyone should do at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five times week. If you need to lose weight, you may need to do more than this - 60 to 90 minutes five times a week - to maintain weight loss. Here we explain why and give you some tips to help you meet your target. Why should I exercise?Exercise is good for you at any age. Keep active, and you are up to a third less likely to die early. Regular physical activity can also halve your risk of developing coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers. It can also reduce your risk of getting osteoporosis, which causes bones to become fragile and prone to breaking, as well as help alleviate low back pain and relieve the stiffness and pain of osteoarthritis. Exercise is good for your mental health too. People who introduce regular physical activity into their routines report improved mood, better sleep, lower levels of stress and anxiety and positive changes to their self-perception. For some people with depression, physical activity can be as effective as talking treatments or medicines. How much is enough?The recommended healthy level of physical activity is 30 minutes of moderate exercise on at least five days each week. Moderate means enough to stimulate your heart and lungs to make you fitter. This means you need to be breathing faster, with an increased heart rate, and you will also feel warm. Children need to do at least 60 minutes a day of this kind of activity. To avoid weight gain you might need to do 40 to 60 minutes on five days a week, and if you are trying to lose weight having lost some already you should aim for 60 to 90 minutes. Which type of exercise?The type of exercise you choose depends on how fit and healthy you are and what you want to achieve. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, moderate aerobic exercise like walking, running or cycling is ideal - and the more you do, the more calories you will burn and weight you will lose. On the other hand, if you have osteoporosis you should stick to low-impact exercise, like swimming or walking. The key to making sure you reap the benefits of exercise is regularity. The best way to do this is to make exercise part of your daily routine, for example by walking or cycling to work. Try not to see exercise as a chore, but choose something you enjoy, whether it's walking, playing football or dancing. A balanced approach to different types of exerciseDifferent types of exercise benefit your health in different ways. The best way to ensure all-round fitness is to incorporate each of these elements into your exercise routine. Aerobic exerciseFor a healthy heart, you need to do aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is any activity that uses oxygen, raises your heart rate and makes you slightly breathless. It helps to keep your heart, lungs, blood vessels and muscles healthy. Combined with a balanced diet, aerobic exercise is the best way to maintain a healthy weight. Some of the most aerobically efficient and enjoyable activities are outdoor, "green" exercises. These can range from conservation projects including gardening, to walking or cycling. You should aim to exercise for at least 30 minutes five times a week. Adjust the intensity of your exercise depending on your goal. If you haven't exercised for a while or have a health condition, you should speak to your GP before starting. If you feel at all unwell during exercise, you should stop and see your GP as soon as possible. If you just want to keep your heart healthy and cut your risk of disease, your heart rate only needs to go up a little as you exercise - about 50 to 60 percent of your maximum - for you to benefit from it. Your maximum heart rate is estimated by subtracting your age in years from 220, for example, the maximum heart rate for a 50 year old would be 170 beats per minute (bpm). So a healthy pulse rate for someone of this age would be 85 to 102bpm. This should equate to "moderate" exercise, where you also feel warm and breathless. However, you will need to exercise a bit harder if you want to burn more calories, for example, if you are trying to lose weight, benefit your heart even more and really improve your fitness. Aim for a pulse rate of 60 to 80 percent of your maximum. So in the example 50-year-old, the aim would be for 102 to 136bpm. One way to measure your pulse is to take a little break in your activity, count your pulse at your wrist for 15 seconds and multiply this by four. Then continue exercising, adjusting your exercise intensity if you need to. Try starting gently, then gradually increasing the intensity. As you get fitter, you will find that you need to work harder to meet your target heart rates - this is a good sign that your body is becoming more efficient at using oxygen. Strength trainingA rounded exercise programme should include strength training, which helps to stop muscles shrinking and give your body a more toned look. Plus, muscle burns more calories than inactive tissue, so building up some muscle will help you stay a healthy weight. Strength training involves moving your muscles against some kind of resistance, which is why you will also hear it being called resistance training. You can use rubber bands, free weights (such as dumb-bells), weight-lifting machines or the weight of your body. Aim to do some strength training two or three times per week. Find a weight that allows you to do one set of eight to 10 exercises. General training should include two to three upper body exercises and two to three lower body exercises, plus abdominal exercises. Lots of everyday activities, such as carrying shopping or gardening, can also help tone and strengthen your muscles, and doing them for longer will improve your strength. Alternatively, you could join a gym or lift weights at home and gradually build up weight and repetitions. Flexibility exercisesMuscles that aren't regularly stretched are at risk of becoming shorter and less elastic. This reduces the range of movement at the joint and increases the risk of injury from tears and pulls. Aim to include some flexibility exercises into your exercise plan two to three times per week. These should stretch all the major muscles in your upper and lower body. Yoga, pilates and tai chi include many exercises that focus on suppleness and flexibility. These involve gently easing and stretching the body into different positions, and maintaining the positions with the help of focused breathing. They may help your flexibility and strength, as well as promoting relaxation and improving circulation, balance and posture. Exercising safelyTo exercise safely, ease yourself into a routine gradually. Start with moderate exercise for short periods of time, and then build up the intensity and duration as you become fitter. It's a good idea to warm up before you start exercising to increase the flow of blood to your muscles and minimise the risk of injury. A warm-up usually involves low-intensity exercise for five to 10 minutes, followed by exercises to stretch the muscles. You should also cool down at the end of your session by gradually decreasing the intensity, and stretching your muscles again. It's important to keep your body hydrated, so drink enough water before, during and after exercise to replace the fluids you lose in sweat. This will vary from person to person and according to the climate you are in. You may feel a bit sore after intense exercise, but if you feel pain while you are exercising, it's best to stop. See your GP to check that nothing is wrong. You should also see your GP before you start a new exercise programme if you have heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, joint pain, diabetes, are recovering from an illness or are pregnant. Key points
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