Healthy Lifestyle Tips from the Active for Life Team

Try to take some exercise everyday

It's not always possible to get to the gym three times a week, although it is possible for most people to take a brisk 10 minute walk. Why not park the car five minutes away from where you work? You would barely notice the difference. Or try parking a little further away when you go shopping so you will save money by not having to pay a premium parking fee to park right by the shopping mall and you’ll get a great exercise opportunity too.

If motivation is what you need,
book a one-to-one

Why not talk to us about what exercise opportunities we can offer you. If you would like some exercise advice or a health check, you can always ask a fitness instructor who can measure your weight, body fat percentage, and blood pressure. Although you don’t have to make a booking for this, supervised gym sessions are the best times for you to talk to a fitness instructor.
Fitness assessments are also available at £20 and one-to-one personal training for £30 per session.

Give up smoking

Our Active For Life staff offer support and counselling to help you stop smoking, so please get in touch if you feel you need some extra help. We all know that smoking is bad for your health, and even more so if you have a history of breathing problems or asthmatic tendencies. If you have tried in the past to give up and find yourself feeling worse for failing, you might want to consider hypnotherapy, which is gaining increasing recognition as being a very effective way to stop the habit. Did you know that after just 8 hours of giving up, your blood oxygen levels return to normal and your chance of having a heart attack falls? And even more good news is that after two days your body is nicotine free!

Give yourself some time

Time management is not just about filling every waking hour with tasks. The balanced time planner knows the wisdom of planning a bit of time for doing absolutely nothing! The message here is to plan a bit of time for yourself to relax and recharge.

Get your priorities right

When we talk about ‘lifestyle’ we often think of someone’s ability to own aspirational brands or afford lavish holidays and fashionable leisure pursuits. The word we would ask you not to forget is ‘life’; you only get one, so you should think about how you want to spend it. Thousands of people spend the whole year doing something they hate simply to be able to afford a week or so doing something they love. Think about what makes you happy, look after yourself, try to stay healthy and remember, there’s more to life than money!

Drink plenty of water

It is believed that in cooler climates up to 90% of the population are dehydrated at some level. This is because for most of the year in these climates people don't feel thirsty and consequently they can go for most of the day without taking water in. Add to this the fact that many people drink coffee, tea and alcohol, which actually accelerate the dehydration process and it’s easy to see why we get dehydrated. Aim to drink up to two litres of pure water each day and try to drink it gradually; if you gulp it down in one session, most of it will pass through you unused!

Why we should exercise regularly

• It improves our mental wellbeing (the feel good factor – releasing endorphins)
• It helps us overcome outside stresses and reduces the body’s susceptibility to infection or illness
• It can regulate our sleeping patterns
• It can help reduce cholesterol
• It can reduce our blood pressure over a period of time
• It can guard against the onset of coronary heart disease
• It helps to improve our confidence and self esteem
• It can help in the prevention of osteoporosis through weight bearing exercise
• It improves our overall flexibility
• It improves the body’s posture, due to increased muscle tone
• It increases muscular strength
• There can be a fun social side
• It is enjoyable
• It can help us maintain a healthy weight
• It can help us achieve weight loss or gain
• It improves our cardiovascular fitness
• It reduces our resting pulse rate
• It can reduce our body fat percentage

Diet and nutritional advice

Specialist advice on this will be coming soon – watch this space. In the meantime, our Active For Life staff and Fitness instructors can offer you some tips during either an Active For Life session or a supervised gym instructor session.

If you have any questions on any of the healthy lifestyle tips mentioned – or anything else you would like to discuss - please contact a member of the Active For Life Team at Newmarket, Brandon, or Mildenhall Leisure centre. We’ll be happy to help!

We are also currently working on Healthy Walks schemes, if you would like more information on Health Walks please call your local leisure centre or contact Nick Wyatt, Forest Heath District Council’s Countryside officer, on 01638 719214.