No time to exercise? Think of exercise more as body movement. Here is a sneak peek excerpt from my book The Menopause Mosaic (not yet published), from Chapter 11 on Fatigue.
5 ideas for 5 minutes of cardiovascular movement, especially when you are pressed for time:
- Doing laundry at home? Become inefficient. Sort clothes into many piles (not just lights and darks) and bring each pile downstairs or upstairs to the laundry area pile-by-pile. Instead of making one trip with everything jammed into a huge laundry basket, you’ll make 5-10 trips instead, getting a 5 minute stair workout.
- Working from home? Keep 5 pound hand weights at your computer and before each Zoom meeting set a timer for 5 minutes and do biceps and triceps reps. If you have back-to-back meetings and you are feeling daring, turn your video off and do your 5 minute routine anyway.
- Waiting for a meeting to start, or a special delivery to come, or for your coffee pot to brew? Do 5 minutes of squats, observing excellent spine and core posture.
- Take the stairs at work, assuming the stairwell is safe. Even if you are on the 21st floor, you can do the first 6 floors and then ride the elevator the rest of the way. Maybe you can add another floor each week.
- Is walking the dog your main trip out of the house but your pooch has to stop at every single tree, bush, post and fire hydrant? After getting back from your leisurely dog walk go out by yourself just for 5 minutes to briskly walk around 2-3 blocks. Even better if a hill is involved.
Stay tuned for The Menopause Mosaic, coming soon!
(Forward 5 icon pic on Blog home page created by Mustofa Bayu from Noun Project)