Physical activity is any activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellbeing. It is often called a "miracle" or "wonder drug" because of its proven and wide ranging benefits. It is notable that exercise does NOT counteract the negative effects of physical inactivity.

• Physical inactivity reduces muscle activity, and thus metabolism. Muscle eventually breaks down, impeding blood flow
• Poor blood flow causes vasoconstriction, and reduces blood flow to the brain as well as mood enhancing hormones
• Insulin loses 40% of its sensitivity, causing hyperglycemia, increasing risk of T2DM
• Increases inflammation
• Lipoprotein lipase levels decrease, and there is increase of LDL's (bad cholesterol, whilst decreasing HDL's) and other fats, increasing risk of weight gain
• Bone mass eventually decreases

• Strengthen musculoskeletal and the cardiovascular system
• Honing athletic skills
• Weight loss/maintenance
• Mere enjoyment
• Boost the immune system
• Prevents diseases of affluence, e.g. heart disease, CVD, T2DM, and obesity
• Prevent depression
• Improve mental health generally
• Augment an individual's sex appeal or body image, associated with higher levels of self-esteem
• Increases creativity by 60%
• Aids sleep
• Reduces stress
• Increases good cholesterol
• Improve cognition, reducing dementia risk

• 30 minutes of mild to moderate intensity physical activity each day for 5 days, with additional health benefits when this is increased to 60 minutes each day for 5 days
• Vigorous activity should be conducted, as there are independent benefits of intensity of activity. It can be done so in high intensity interval training (HIIT), which is discontinuous series of low and high intensity work outs, such as performing at 90-100% of maximal capacity for a short burst of time (usually <2 minutes), followed by rest (usually <3 minutes), and repeating the cycle four or more times. Research shows that achieving at least 4 minutes/day of HIIT a day is advantageous. HIIT increases growth hormone. The advantage is time savings, as it can equate be comparable to jogging 30-60 minutes at an even speed, as well as being advantageus for fat loss. It is contraindicated in severe back or knee pain
• 10,000 steps per day, and since 30 minutes of activity equates about 3,000 steps so other activity during the day is important. Research shows that 10,000 steps indicates "active", and 12,500 steps indicates "highly active". <10000 indicates "somewhat active" (some volitional activities, or elevated occupational demands), <7500 indicates "low active" (typical of daily activities), <5000 is a sedentary lifestyle, and <2500 is basal activity
• Take a 5 minute break to stand up and walk around, every hour to negate effects of sitting
• Maintain sitting to <3 hours a day
• Going >4 hours of exercise can be toxic, but the sweet spot is 1 hour and 4 minutes per day, who are 39% less likely to die prematurely than those who had never exercised. Going over can just be a waste of time, and can cause fatigue

• Activity tracker helps to track fitness metrics, including distance walked/run (calories burned, time spent active vs idle), and sometimes, heartbeat and sleep quality (how long it took to fall asleep, and sleep vs wake moments):
  • Fitbit Flex and Jawbone UP24 both tracks steps and sleep
  • Withings Pulse O2 also measures heart rate, tracks elevation (stairs climbed). It is uniquely the only activity tracker to offer O2 saturation. It doesn't continuously track heart rate, it is not water resistant, and requires manual selection to track sleep
  • Fitbit Charge HR also has a vibrating alarm and caller ID
  • Fitbit Surge also has a GPS (route histories), text message notifications (but not e-mail), and a bigger screen. The GPS can take several minutes to lock in to a satellite
• Standing desks, treadmill desks, or exercise balls
• Engage in NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis), such as fidgeting rather than sitting still, raising your heels whilst sitting still, pace rather than standing still, stand on one leg or step side to side when waiting. NEAT can burn around 330 calories per day
• Behavioral changes, such as stretching routines, standing during phone calls/meetings, PC reminders, increase fluid intake (as this will require more frequent visits to the toilet), taking stairs rather than lifts

Push up with side knee tucks:

YouTube video

Alternating crunch:

YouTube video

Box jump:

YouTube video

Double unders (jump rope):

YouTube video

Push jerk (weights):

YouTube video

Kipping pull up (bar):

YouTube video

Toes to bar kick (bar):

YouTube video

Muscle up (bar):

YouTube video

Muscle ups (rings):

YouTube video

Russian dip (parallel bench):

YouTube video

GHD situp:

YouTube video

Climbing rope:

YouTube video

• CVD mortality (increased by 64%) (HTN, T2DM), with each hour of sitting per day associated with a 14% increase in coronary artery calcification
• Prostate cancer (increased by 30%)
• Obesity
• Dementia

• Physical inactivity accounts for 5.3 million deaths globally, more than smoking
• Physical inactivity (>4 hours of sitting) increases risk of death by 40% of death in the next 3 years
• Childhood obesity is a growing global concern, and physical exercise can help decrease some effects of obesity
• 10-20 years of inactivity of 6 hours of sitting/day, causes loss of 7 quality adjusted life years (i.e. years without medical issues, or death)
• Average steps per day is 5,100 steps
• More than 1.9 million individuals are treated for a sports related injury in ED's each year
• "Sitting is the new smoking"

• Smoking
• Nutrition
• Alcohol