How much do you a move a day? As students, we can be quite sedentary and with long days in lectures, we may struggle to get our recommended 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a day, five days a week. Physical activity is essential to improve our strength, energy, sleep, mood, weight maintenance and flexibility, to name but a few benefits. Physical activities are needed to benefit our short term and long-term health. To get more active and add more fitness into our lifestyle, we must move every day. Here are some tips for getting more active and moving daily:

• Choose an activity you enjoy such as dancing or swimming.
• If you get bored with an activity, try a new one, or a different type of this activity such as different dance classes or gym classes.
• Set goals and chart your progress, such as increasing your daily step count, or the distance you walk or jog.
• Health apps and step trackers can help to keep track of these goals.
• Don’t punish yourself if you don’t hit your goal or if you miss an activity class, try again the next day!
• Get active with others: support from friends, family, colleagues etc can keep you motivated and make movement feel more enjoyable.
• Short bouts of exercise and movement add up. 10 minutes of activity at a time counts towards your recommended 30 minutes of physical activity per day.
• Different settings provide plenty of opportunities to move more: – Shopping centres are a great place to walk indoors and increase your activity levels. – At home, active housework counts towards physical activity by sweeping, hoovering, listening to music and dancing, balancing on one foot while brushing your teeth or watching TV! Ad breaks can provide opportunity to do short bouts of exercise like walking up and down the stairs. – In college, join a club or society that requires movement! Commute to college by bike, scooter or walk, or go for a jog or walk with friends between lectures. – NUI Galway has its own biodiversity trail which provides a scenic view to fit in a short bout of exercise and catch up with friends during the college day.
• Challenge yourself to be more active and move every day!
• Keep an eye out for the HUB’s upcoming Sports Week and the Marchathon.