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Increase your Daily Activity Schedule
If you have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease or any other chronic health condition you wouldn’t think of taking your medication on Monday at 9:00 a.m. only to skip it on Tuesday and Wednesday but then triple the dose on Thursday and take it at 4:00 p.m. You know that in order to best control your health condition you must take your medicine as prescribed by your doctor. In the case of daily medications this means every day at the same time of day.
When properly scheduled physical activity can act much like a medication. Regular exercise can help prevent or control high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol, while decreasing your risk of heart disease. Regular exercise can also act as a “stress buster” helping you to step away from the stresses of your day while improving sleep at night. If you combine healthy eating with exercise and lose weight you may also find that your aching joints don’t ache quite as much.
With so much to be gained through regular exercise we have to wonder why so many of us don’t get enough of it! The obstacle noted by most people is time and in our busy society it’s easy to make a case for the lack of time to exercise. Yet in even the busiest of days most of us will find time to eat at least once a day. We also find time to brush our teeth and shower. In fact we’ll pretty much find time for any activity we feel is important or that we habitually perform.
So treat activity like it’s a medication! Schedule it into your day, every day so that it becomes an iron clad, health promoting habit. Choose activities you’ll enjoy and look forward to. Find a friend to exercise or walk with.
If you are presently inactive it’s best to begin slowly. Below is a schedule that gets you started with as little as 4 10-minute sessions a week and gradually builds time and days per week. Be sure to check with your doctor if you have any question as to whether or not exercise is appropriate for you. Otherwise, what are you waiting for?
Lannette Madden, RN ACE-AHFS
Increase your Daily Activity Schedule
This is a great plan if you want to use daily activity to decrease health risks. It treats activity like medicine because it eventually gives you the same dose of it every day. That makes it excellent to help control high blood pressure, stress or diabetes. It uses increasing time versus mileage so you may substitute any activity that allows you to move continually for walking. The goal is to increase the total number of minutes you are active daily over a period of weeks. Slow progression decreases the likelihood of injury or extreme muscle soreness.
Day
Week | Monday | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Total Time |
1 | 10 min |  | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | | | 40 min |
2 | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | | | 50 min |
3 | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | | 60 min |
4 | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 10 min | 70 min |
5 | 10 min | 10 min | 15 min | 10 min | 10 min | 15 min | 10 min | 80 min |
6 | 15 min | 10 min | 15 min | 10 min | 15 min | 10 min | 15 min | 90 min |
7 | 15 min | 15 min | 15 min | 15 min | 15 min | 15 min | 10 min | 100 min |
8 | 15 min | 15 min | 20 min | 15 min | 15 min | 15 min | 15 min | 110 min |
9 | 20 min | 15 min | 20 min | 15 min | 15 min | 20 min | 15 min | 120 min |
10 | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 15 min | 20 min | 15 min | 20 min | 130 min |
11 | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 140 min |
Maintain at 20 minutes a day for at least two additional weeks
You may then choose to increase your times as follows:
Day
Week | Monday | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Total Time |
1 | 20 min | 30 min | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 150
min |
2 | 20 min | 30 min | 20 min | 30 min | 20 min | 20 min | 20 min | 160
min |
3 | 20 min | 30 min | 20 min | 30 min | 20 min | 30 min | 20 min | 170
min |
4 | 30 min | 20 min | 30 min | 20 min | 30 min | 20 min | 30 min | 180
min |
5 | 30 min | 30 min | 20 min | 30 min | 30 min | 20 min | 30 min | 190
min |
6 | 30 min | 30 min | 30 min | 20 min | 30 min | 30 min | 30 min | 200
min |
7 | 30 min | 30 min | 30 min | 30 min | 30 min | 30 min | 30 min | 210
min |
Lannette Madden, RN, Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist
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