Exercise tips don’t have too mean laborious. In this video, TV Doctor Rangan Chatterjee gives you three quick practical exercise tips
‘Getting more exercise is important for our physical health but also for our brain health,’ says Dr Rangan Chatterjee, who appeared in BBC One series Doctor In The House and has released a new book, The Stress Solution: The 4 Steps to Reset Your Body, Mind, Relationships and Purpose.
We all know exercise is a key element to living a healthy lifestyle, but that doesn’t make it any easier to make it a regular feature of our daily routines, especially when you’re already working long hours. We’re all looking for ways to integrate exercise into our lives more easily.
Luckily Doctor Rangan Chatterjee is here to help with his top three exercise tips.
Exercise tip #1: Don’t forget muscle
‘After the age of thirty, we lose muscle mass each year,’ Dr Chatterjee says. ‘Muscle is an active organ that helps us to regulate our hormones and reduce inflammation.’
A study explains that muscles weaken with age with a condition known as sarcopenia. It begins to appear about age forty and accelerates at about seventy-five. This study experimented with mice and found that sarcopenia occurs when calcium leaks from a group of proteins found in muscle cells.
The deterioration of these muscles is also tied to heart failure, arraythmias and even muscular dystrophy.
Getting more exercise is important for our physical health but also for our brain health
If you exercise more now, you can help yourself down the road by strengthening your muscles through daily exercise.
It doesn’t have to be complex either. Dr Chatterjee says you can build muscle just by doing some simple body weight exercises at home every single day. No need for a gruelling workout at the gym.
Subscribe to the Healthista YouTube channel where you will find lots of free workouts including our popular 30 day challenges featuring free daily videos of five minutes each. These use body weight only and work your butt, abs, arms and whole body.
Exercise tip #2: Snack on movement
Speaking of that gruelling gym workout, it might not be as effective as you want it to be. Dr Chatterjee says that an evening workout doesn’t outdo the negative health effects of sitting at your desk all day.
Research shows that high intensity workouts aren’t sustainable for everyone, and are much more applicable for young fit people. For most of us, high intensity workouts are unpleasant so they’re more likely to be unsustainable in the long-term.
An evening workout doesn’t outdo the negative health effects of sitting at your desk all day
The study recruited sedentary, obese subjects instead of athletic young people to see if they preferred high or moderate intensity workouts. The study’s conclusion found that most of the fittest people enjoyed moderate exercise incorporated into their day to day lives.
Dr Chatterjee thinks that dispersing your movement throughout the day is a healthier routine.
‘I’m a big fan of regular movement snacks throughout the day,’ Dr Chatterjee says, ‘whether it’s a brisk five minute walk, 20 star jumps or some press ups at your desk.’
Exercise tip #3: Mindful walking
Mindfulness, if you haven’t heard of it, is a therapeutic technique you can use to improve your mental health. You focus on becoming aware of your breathing, the sensations you feel and the world around you. Dr Chatterjee says that pairing this technique with physical movement is a great way to exercise.
‘Mindfulness is important to help lower stress levels,’ Dr Chatterjee says. ‘Leave your phone in the drawer, go for a ten minute walk outside and pay attention to the trees, to the birds and to the sky.’
A study shows that mindful movement can help lower your anxiety and stress levels. 158 college students participated in the study, and found a possible synergistic effect when the students were being both mindful and active.
Leave your phone in the drawer, go for a ten minute walk outside and pay attention to the trees, the birds and the sky
A later study using older adults instead found the same results. When outdoor activity was paired with mindfulness, the subjects had lowered levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.
A quick walk in the evenings isn’t just a quick and easy way to get the exercise you need, it’s a mental health tonic as well.
Doctor Rangan Chatterjee‘s new book The Stress Solution: The 4 Steps to Reset Your Body, Mind, Relationships and Purpose is out now.
Follow Dr Rangan Chatterjee on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
More from Dr Chatterjee:
3 things this TV Doctor wants you to know about healthy weight loss
3 things this TV doctor wants you to know about mood
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