The following article distinguishes between different types of exercise and activity and shows that it doesn’t always have to be sport if we want to stay fit. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines physical activity as activities that are carried out at work, at play, while doing household chores, when traveling and during leisure activities. The benefits of regular physical activity are manifold: preventing chronic diseases, reducing stress, managing weight, increasing functional mobility, improving sleep, alleviating depression, improving cognitive function and so on.
According to the WHO, children and adolescents need 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity per day and adults need 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity per week to maintain their health – and that doesn’t just mean fitness training. In fact, we can do health-enhancing physical activity in many ways and in many places. GWI research explores the different ways we can engage in physical activity, from fitness, recreation and leisure activities to the natural movement that occurs in our daily lives.
Natural movement encompasses the physical activities that are essential to our daily lives, including locomotion (e.g. walking and cycling as a means of transportation), occupational (e.g. work requiring manual labor) or domestic (e.g. housework, gardening, etc.) movement. Natural movement is on the decline worldwide as it is increasingly restricted by our modern, sedentary lifestyles and car-oriented built environment. In most parts of the world, our living environments, workplaces and lifestyles are less and less conducive to natural movement, while physical activity is therefore becoming increasingly important in leisure time to stay healthy.
