Welcome to the Topic “Physical Activity vs Exercise”
Fitness can be a complicated subject at times; there’s usually more to it than just being physically active or exercising. Sometimes we don’t even know the difference between physical activity and exercise if there even is any. While your journey to being fit may be difficult in terms of the effort and commitment required, we want to make sure it is as easy as possible to understand what you need to do.
To achieve that goal, we’ll explain the difference between physical activity and exercise in today’s article and help you make the required changes to your routine. With these changes, you will also be able to achieve the goals that you’ve set for yourself as efficiently and easily as possible.
With that being said, let’s get right into it:
Differentiating Between the Types
In essence, there are three distinct definitions for physical activity, exercise, and cardiovascular exercise. These are conveyed as defined by the American Heart Association:
Physical Activity: This covers any sort of movement that your body makes, which involves the use of your muscles. Anything from standing up from a sitting position to reaching your bedside to switch a lamp on/off counts as physical activity.
Exercise: Exercise builds on physical activity by adding structure to it. This means workout routines, marathons, morning runs, and anything done with structure and the intention to improve one’s physical health. The typical characteristics denoting exercise are structure, planning, and repetition.
Cardiovascular Exercise: This builds further on physical activity and exercise by targeting a specific area in your body; your heart and vascular systems. Accordingly, cardiovascular exercise improves your heart’s ability to pump blood and, as a result, get oxygen throughout your body more effectively.
If you’re confused about whether a certain activity in your routine is exercise or physical activity, ask yourself the following questions:
“Is this exercise planned, and does it have structure?”
“Do I perform this activity to improve my physical health?”
“Do I intend to do this repeatedly throughout the week or month?”
If the answer to all of these questions is yes, you are performing an exercise. Contrarily, if any of the answers are no, you are most likely engaging in physical activity and not exercise.
How do I Know if I’m Physically Active or Exercising Enough?
The general advice you’ve most likely heard throughout your life is that your body needs at least 30 minutes of exercise daily. However, since exercise itself is a part of physical activity, what if you’re getting your exercise quota met through physical activity alone? Defining this may help determine whether your daily routine needs any changes to ensure your physical fitness. Well, let’s discuss how exactly you can do that!
First, start by reflecting on your routine. Start with the last day, and you can move backwards from there. Evaluate how much you move around, estimate the time you spend being active or exercising, and what you do when you’re not exercising or moving around. Being clear about the intensity of the movement/exercise is also important, along with whether it is intentional or simply an unavoidable part of your routine.
Having defined this, you should know how much exercise you’re getting as well as how you’re getting that exercise done. For instance, if you commute to work on foot every day for a total of 30 minutes of walking, you’re most likely already getting your required daily exercise done through that, combined with the rest of your physical activity throughout the day.
However, if you feel that your commute is on transportation and that walking is usually not more than a 5–10-minute adventure to/from anywhere, you are likely not meeting your daily exercise requirement.
When considering a combination of physical activity and exercise, it may be difficult to define exactly whether you meet your daily requirement. Accordingly, we advise that you make time separately for 30 minutes of exercise and keep that independent from the physical activity you perform throughout the day.
I’m not Physically Active, how do I Change That?
Becoming physically active can be a difficult journey for many people, especially when your present lifestyle is more sedentary and has been for most of your life. However, though it may seem difficult to start, it gets a lot easier with time and can even be the highlight of your day! Exercise is well-known to be beneficial not only for your physical health but your mental state as well.
To transition towards a more physically active lifestyle, you must have performed the routine evaluation we discussed earlier. Having done that, you will know the weak points in your routine as well as the strong points that you can keep (or build further upon). With this information in hand, consider the following changes to your lifestyle that subtly increase your physical activity:
- If your work revolves around sitting at a desk, invest in a standing desk and try to stand more often than you sit.
- If your commute to work takes anywhere between 30-45 minutes on foot, consider ditching the transport and walking there instead. You may also invest in a bicycle if you would prefer.
- Pick up a hobby that you like that involves physical activity. Always liked flowers and plants? Maybe gardening has been your calling all along! More examples can be hiking, sports, walking, or running; the sky is the limit here.
- As stated earlier, add 30 minutes or more of deliberate, planned, and structured exercise to your routine that is independent of any other physical activity and commit to it.
That wraps up our discussion of physical activity vs exercise and the importance of each in your life. The World Health Organization has defined a lack of physical activity as one of the leading causes of death worldwide; through chronic diseases that develop directly from sedentary lifestyles. Accordingly, we recommend that you start today and protect your long-term health from being jeopardized. We hope this has been helpful and informative for you and wish you good luck with all your future endeavours!
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Also Read: How to make working out a habit
