Active Living
The warm weather in Baton Rouge, Louisiana makes active living easy. Physical activity is any form of exercise or movement of the body that uses energy. Some of your daily life activities-doing active chores around the house, yard work, walking the dog-are examples. To reap the health benefits of physical activity, include aerobic activities that make you breathe harder, such as brisk walking, running, dancing, swimming, and playing basketball. Be sure to include strengthening activities to make your muscles stronger, like push-ups and lifting weights. Some activity is better than none. The more you do, the greater the health benefits and the better you'll feel.
As more people in Baton Rouge turn to bicycling and walking as fun and effective forms of transportation and exercise, Baton Rouge Advocates for Safe Streets works to increase the number of opportunities for bicycling and walking. Please visit the BRASS Web site - www.brsafestreets.org - to learn more about what they’re doing to help you stay active and healthy!
Benefits of Active Living:
- Healthier body and mind
- Increase longevity
- Increase self-confidence
- Decrease depression
- Better sleep
- Build stronger muscles and bones
- Weight maintenance and/or weight loss
- Be with friends or meet new people
- Fun
How much physical activity do you need each week?
Aerobic
Adults should get at least 2 hours and 30 minutes each week of aerobic physical activity that requires moderate effort OR 1 hour and 15 minutes of aerobic physical activity that requires vigorous effort. You need to do this type of activity for at least 10 minutes at a time.
Moderate Activities
Vigorous Activities
- Ballroom and line dancing
- Biking on level ground with few hills
- Canoeing
- General gardening (raking, trimming shrubs)
- Sports where you catch and throw (baseball, softball, volleyball)
- Household chores (vacuuming, sweeping)
- Tennis (doubles)
- Using your manual wheelchair
- Using hand cyclers ? also called ergometers
- Walking briskly
- Water aerobics
- Tennis (doubles)
Vigorous Activities
- Aerobic dance
- Biking faster than 10 miles per hour
- Fast dancing
- Heavy gardening (digging, hoeing)
- Hiking uphill
- Jumping rope
- Martial arts (such as karate)
- Race walking, jogging, or running
- Sports with a lot of running (basketball, hockey, soccer)
- Swimming faster or swimming laps
- Tennis (singles)
Strengthening
Adults should also do strengthening activities at least 2 days a week. Strengthening activities include body weight exercises, weight lifting, calisthenics, Pilates, yoga, etc.
Physical activity is generally safe for everyone. People who are physically fit have less chance of injury than those who are not fit. The health benefits you gain from being active are far greater than the chances of getting hurt. Being inactive is definitely not good for your health. While being physically active is important to a healthy lifestyle, eating right also plays a major role.
Please visit Healthy Eating for more information.
Louisiana's Capital City gets its vibrant energy from the great Mississippi River and from the delightful people who live there. Enjoy Red Stick and all its southern charm by finding a place to suit your active interests.