Fitbit has released information (1) based on data collected, that physical activity has decreased in this time of lockdown due to the Covid-19. In the next image, you can see how the physical activity has decreased in each country, with data collected ending 22 March 2020.
If I read the article of Fitbit, I wonder whether this is happening because people either don’t know how to be active in this time or whether it is that people are too depressed to exercise. Depression is a bugger, to state it lightly, which influences your whole lifestyle. From becoming less active, social distancing from everyone (even your loved ones and friends), and either eating more or less. You tend to not care anymore about your well being thus you neglect the things that are important for your body, mind, and soul.
The other thing is that people either don’t have enough space to exercise in and feeling cooped in, make you lose motivation to exercise at all.
Last week one of my clients shared her secret with me, in how she keeps on reaching 10 000 steps each day. She gave me permission to share this information to motivate others. This client of mine gets up from what she’s doing every hour and gets on her treadmill for 10 minutes. It takes her 6 times throughout the day of bouts of no longer than 10 minutes of treadmill walking, to reach her goal of 10 000 steps.
But what if you do not have a treadmill? I don’t have a treadmill either but I do have steps around my home and I have an aerobic exercise step as well. So I can use these to walk them up and down for 10 minutes every hour, to reach my goal for 10 000 steps per day. If you have a small trampoline, jumping rope, or even just walking in one spot, you can reach your 10 000 steps per day as well.
10 000 steps are a lot and if you are not used to walking this much, set a lower goal for yourself of either 3000 or 5000 steps for the day. You can increase it as you go along on this journey.
Walking 10 minutes every hour will ensure that your heart pumps more blood through your veins and body which brings the nutrients along with oxygen to all vital organs and body parts. Not only will this help against fighting infections, viruses, and diseases, but it will make that fog in your head disappear. As you start to move and keep at it for a week, you will start to feel better overall. Your appetite will be back, your mood will be better and your body will feel better. If I do not move for longer than 4-5 days, the fog in my head gets too much and my body starts to ache. For me, exercise is essential.
I know that this is a hart time that we as humanity are going through. The rug has been pulled away from underneath us but today I want to tell you that we (you) are not alone. God has not left us nor you. He is still here and waiting for each of us to cry out to Him for help at this time. You ask Him for strength in this time and provision. He hears and He will help. I believe it and I want you to hold onto God’s Word along with me.
Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Resources:
(1) – https://blog.fitbit.com/covid-19-global-activity/