Keeping Fit

“Physical activity doesn’t have to be very hard to improve your health,” says The Physical Activity Guide, recently released by Health Canada. As reported in The Toronto Star, “you can improve your fitness and your heart by doing light activity for 10-minute periods and add them up for an hour’s worth each day.” What are some of the recommended activities? They include walking, stair climbing, gardening, and stretching. Such household chores as vacuuming or mopping also count, and they build flexibility. The guide suggests that the goal of accumulating 60 minutes a day “can be reached by building physical activities into your daily routine.” Says Dr. Francine Lemire, president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada: “If you are inactive, studies show that the health risk could be on par with smoking.”