It is always good to contemplate (at least through blogging) no matter how sickly I feel because this calms me down, it gives me a quiet assurance in life and it energizes me. I am trying to get over a cold but it may take longer. I need to type my thoughts though, the worst I can do and which would make me feel guilty and miserable is doing nothing during these morning hours before I work this afternoon. I should blog, I should read the book I am intending to finish reading, I should study the computer program I am planning to review, see, there are things I can enjoy doing instead of checking the internet for useless info just because it feels good to be lazy. This reminds me of the young people who are healthy yet would take a scooter to move around ( a grocery store for example), I am talking about disease-free healthy young people who are just lazy. The cycle of doing nothing or lessening activities in life has a fatal effect on the human body; the fewer tasks you do, the harder they become to do them. The less you walk the lifestyle harder it becomes. The less you work the more you drag yourself into it. Which leads to an unhealthy weight, unhealthy habits, inviting all types of illnesses from obesity to diabetes to heart conditions to strokes to depression. So for one who wants to be active and healthy and happy for the longest time possible, he or she must break the cycle of inactivity/laziness.
- One way is to resist the temptation of passive Internet. In idle hours, it is often comforting to check out the social media without realizing that hours have passed and you are still immersed in it.
- Another is to keep occupied and set up some goals you want to accomplish each day. Give them time frames. So for this morning, I want to water the plants, run a couple of miles, read additional pages on the current book I am reading, clean and organize the house, and if time permits, do some programming before my 1 pm scheduled work.
- In other words, unless your task involves the computer, like what I am doing now blogging this, you may get up and move around the house or backyard to start the blood pumping, muscles contracting, stomach digesting, brain thinking.
So these are the few thoughts running in my brain this morning after I got canceled for my morning work. I want to be as active as I can, even if it is raining outside. Besides, the mere act of brewing coffee gets me going. The mere sitting on this chair to type is already considered active. So - it might be a good idea for me to share my thoughts about the active lifestyle as opposed to exercise.
Most people assume that to be considered active, one should be involved in some form of exercise or non-stop cardio for a few minutes. The mere sitting on a chair as opposed to lying on the bed makes you active already. To be more precise, being active means doing something else besides sleeping and staying put/immobile in one spot for long periods.
What is METS?
The original definition of metabolic equivalent is the oxygen used by a person in milliliter per minute per kilogram body mass divided by lifestyle3.5...the rate of energy produced per unit surface area of an average person seated at rest:
Activities
Physical activity
MET
Light intensity activities
< 3
sleeping
0.9
watching television
1.0
writing, desk work, typing lifestyle
1.5
walking, 1.7 mph (2.7 km/h), level ground, strolling, very slow lifestyle
2.3
walking, 2.5 mph (4 km/h)
2.9
lifestyle
Moderate intensity activities
3 to 6
bicycling, stationary, 50 watts, very light effort
3.0
walking 3.0 mph (4.8 km/h)
3.3
calisthenics, home exercise, light or moderate effort, general
3.5
walking 3.4 mph (5.5 km/h)
3.6
bicycling, < 10 mph (16 km/h), leisure, to work or for pleasure
4.0
bicycling, stationary, 100 watts, light effort
5.5
sexual activity
5.8lifestyle
Vigorous-intensity activities
> 6
jogging, general lifestyle
7.0
calisthenics (e.g. pushups, situps, pullups, jumping jacks), heavy, vigorous effort
8.0
running jogging, in place lifestyle
8.0
jogging, 5.6 mph (9.0 km/h)
8.8
rope jumping (66/min)lifestyle
9.8
rope jumping (70/min)
10.0
rope jumping (84/min)lifestyle
10.5
rope jumping (100/min)
11.0
jogging, 6.8 mph (11.0 km/h)
11.2
This METS table suggests that any form of activity will utilize calories(even sleeping for goodness sakes) and this counts in our quest to be active and healthy. Jogging is better than sitting. Typing in front of the monitor is better than watching TV. The mere act of moving, at least to me, is already considered an active lifestyle. Other activities that fall under active lifestyle include using stairs, gardening, babysitting, working, talking, lecturing, and the big ones - sports such as swimming, skiing (which is considered super in METS), hiking, mountain climbing, or whatever you can think of.
It is not a gigantic challenge for a sedentary person to be considered active. The moment you start taking that big leap, which can be as easy as getting up from the bed to sitting on the edge of the bed or standing up from sitting on the edge of the bed and then walking no matter how short or how long the distance it takes, is already active.
Of course, you need to do better if you want to lose weight: Just think about this - to lose the calories acquired in drinking a glass of milk is equivalent to walking between 2.5 to 3 miles. One of my rules in being active: Never gauge the success of an active lifestyle in terms of lost pounds. That is a very intimidating, dangerous and frustrating measure. We all know that losing pounds depends more on the kitchen than the gym although both can be useful partners in the quest. The real measure of an active lifestyle is simply what it stands for. How active can you perform? Can you do your regular routines at a normal pace and a normal amount of time? Are your activities in daily living easy and energetic? That is my thinking about the active lifestyle.