Posted on Friday 24th April 2020
It's important to stay physically and mentally fit during isolation.
Everyone should try and stay fit and beat the boredom during the current lockdown.
Physical and mental exercise are essential for good health now and in preparation for when the world starts returning to normality.
Alan White, Deputy Leader of Staffordshire County Council and Cabinet member for Health, Care and Wellbeing, said:
While we’re rightly preoccupied with staying safe at the moment, while we are at home for a long time there is an element of ‘use it or lose it’ – particularly for older people.
As lockdown continues it’s easy to become a little bored and let things start to slide so we should be scheduling some appropriate physical exercise every day and keeping ourselves mentally active too so that when this lockdown is lifted everyone is fit and ready and able to get back to normal.”
What can be done depends on your age, health and where you live. Depending on their confidence and ability for older people even simple things such as vacuuming, dusting and moving around the house and up and down stairs is good. For the more confident, gardening, pushing a lawn mower, riding a bike and a brisk walk are all good options, but if you need to stay indoors some simple 10-minute exercise routines can be found here and general NHS advice on physical activity for older people here.
For children, Joe Wicks, aka The Body Coach is incredibly popular at the moment. His workouts can be found on his YouTube Channel here live Monday to Fridays at 9am and previous episodes can also be accessed there.
And for adults staying at home, depending on what condition you’re in, there are some more vigorous exercise guides here and here. And of course, if you do go out for one piece of exercise per day, whether it’s running, walking or cycling, observe the social distancing guidelines and stay safe.
Alan White added:
It’s also vital that we keep ourselves mentally alert with a variety of activities that stretch the mind.
Even if something is challenging to start with, if it becomes familiar over time then we start to do it by rote and it loses its impact.
Whether it’s learning new skills such as baking, learning a language or developing an art and craft, or trying new things within an existing skill, it’s vital that we push our minds to stay alert.”
Other safe-to-use downloadable advice apps for good physical and mental health can be found by searching www.staffordshire.gov.uk/appfinder .