Why become more active?

The main reasons people gave for becoming more active in the Scottish Health Survey (1995) are:

• To feel healthier or fitter
• To control weight
• Enjoyment
• To prevent disease
• To reduce stress
• To look better

Phsyical Activity Tips

• Why not catch up with friends for a walk rather than a coffee and a slice of cake?
• Try and leave your car at home for small journeys and walk instead – this will help reduce your carbon footprint too!!
• Play with children or pets. Everybody wins.
• If you find it too difficult to be active after work, try it before work.
• Try and be active during your lunch-break. Leave your desk and go for a walk, the fresh air will be good for you too!!
• There are 1440 minutes in every day... Spend 30 of them being active.
• Think about activity as a way to relax, a walk in the fresh air is good stress relief after a hard day at work!
• Walk or cycle into work instead of taking the car or the bus. Active commuting is a great way to add some activity into your daily life and it helps you avoid the stress of driving and finding somewhere to park!
• Take any opportunities you get to walk about while at work, instead of phoning or emailing a colleague in the same building get up and walk to see them.
• Pick an activity you enjoy – it should be fun!
• Use the stairs at work instead of using the lift or escalator
• Set a good example to your children, by seeing you being active it will encourage them to be active too!
• Take the children to the beach, running about on the sand is a great way to burn calories, have fun and it’s free too!
• Encourage a friend to go to an activity session with you, then it’ll be more fun and you’ll stick with it for longer.
• Plan ahead. If you plan to be active on certain days of the week then you’ll stick to those plans.
• Use activity to beat cravings. A craving for chocolate only lasts for 20 minutes so if you go and do something active when the craving starts it’ll be gone by the time you have finished!
• Don’t let the weather put you off. Keep waterproofs handy so if it’s raining you can still go out for your walk – we promise you won’t melt!!
• Try and pick the times of the day you feel most energetic to do activity - that way you’ll get more out of it.
• Being active can actually make you feel more energetic so even if you don’t feel like it it’ll do you the world of good!
• Be active to music - it’s amazing how quickly the time will go