In this blog previously I have talked about the positive effect of small actions applied consistently lead to the achievement of big results.

One of the personal daily goals and disciplines that I introduced last year was to do a minimum of twenty minutes walking each day as part of my weekly exercise activity.

I had previously been a member of a gym but had not always found it easy to fit visits into my busy weekly schedule. This meant that my gym membership proved to be quite expensive!

In devising the daily walking goal, I felt it would be easier to accommodate into my schedule than regular trips to the gym. As a result I felt more confident that I would stick to the discipline and achieve the goal I set for myself. I am pleased to say that I have achieved the daily walk target and I feel fitter and more energised as a result.

Given the above, I was therefore interested and pleased to read a story on the mail online website last week about a Cambridge University Research study which reinforced the benefits of regular exercise/self- care.

The study of 334,000 people found that even a modest amount of activity prolonged life and the least fit had the most to gain.

Twenty minutes of walking a day or its equivalent would cut their risk of premature death by almost a third. The researchers were not able to quantify how much extra life could be gained through using exercise in this way to move from the “inactive” to the “moderately inactive” part of the population. It is suggested that the obese could expect a 16% reduced risk of dying early. Those of healthy weight could profit by 30%.

The study was led by Ulf Ekelund who said “This is a simple message just a small amount of physical activity each day could have substantial health benefits for people who are physically inactive.”

The researchers estimated that 337,000 of 9.2 million recorded deaths of European men and women were attributed to obesity. But twice this number – around 676,000 deaths could be blamed on inactivity.

Government guidelines advise Britons to do 150 minutes of moderate activity such as gardening, dancing or brisk walking or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise including playing sport, running or aerobics every week. But a recent survey found that a third of people can barely manage to walk for 30 minutes over seven days, even when trips to the shops, work or school are considered.

Professor Nick Wareham, Director of the Medical research Council epidemiology unit at Cambridge said: “Helping people to lose weight can be a real challenge and whilst we should continue to aim at reducing population levels of obesity, public health interventions that encourage people to make small but achievable changes in physical activity can have significant health benefits and may be easier to achieve and maintain.”

This week why not spend a few minutes considering if there are some small actions that you could introduce to increase your self-care.

This week’s quotation:

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live” Jim Rohn

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