5 Ways to Add Incidental Exercise into Your Daily Routine

Whether you’re years into your menopause journey or just at the beginning, understanding which tools and strategies can help to alleviate your symptoms is paramount. Menopause is a natural biological experience that brings with it significant hormonal changes, as well as corresponding symptoms that can disrupt daily rhythms and routines.

Building strong routines that support your physical, mental and emotional health is key to minimising the disruptive native of these symptoms. Many women find that adopting or maintaining a balanced diet, prioritising sleep and looking to body-identical hormone therapies can have a marked impact on their menopause experience.

One simple tool that’s often overlooked is the role of regular exercise. Exercise can lead to improvements in cardiovascular health, healthy weight maintenance and the promotion of healthy bones, all of which are crucial throughout menopause. It can also positively contribute to mental and emotional wellbeing – a priority for women experiencing major physical changes in this new season of life.

Building a regular exercise routine doesn’t need to be overly complicated or time-consuming. By looking at ways to add incidental exercise into your routine, you can increase your total daily activities and build consistency.

Here are five ways you can create incidental opportunities for daily movement.

 

1. Walking instead of driving

If there’s an errand you run that’s close to home, or the office isn’t too far away, opting to walk there and back instead of driving can immediately create regular daily activity. This has additional benefits beyond adding incidental movement to your day: you can decrease your carbon footprint and save money as you do so.

A 2013 study on the health benefits and transportation-related reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in San Francisco found that if residents increased their walking or biking from 4 minutes per day to 22 minutes per day, emissions would reduce by 14%. This study also found that the burden of cardiovascular disease and diabetes was reduced by the same figure, bringing even more benefits to those engaging in an increased level of daily incidental activity.

By opting to walk, you’re also cutting down on fuel expenditure or transport costs. It’s good for your body and your wallet!

 

2. Match movement to household chores

Here’s some good news: working up a sweat while vacuuming the whole house counts as incidental exercise.

Plenty of chores can require us to lift our heart rates, resulting in a great sweat session alongside a completed to-do list. Scrubbing bathrooms, vacuuming, mopping, gardening, tidying, walking the dog, doing laps around your house as you put away the laundry – these are all easy ways to add more movement into your daily tally.

You can up the intensity of these chores by choosing to batch a couple of them back to back, changing into clothes you’re happy to get sweaty in, and embracing the cardio opportunities. By throwing on some great pump-up music, you can whiz through clean-up while getting those steps up.

 

3. Embrace wearable trackers and fitness apps

Wearable trackers, such as Apple Watches or Fitbits, can be powerful tools in showing you the opportunities for incidental exercise throughout your day. When paired with a fitness app, you can gain useful insights into when you’re naturally moving your body (or when it’s been resting without movement for extended time periods).

These devices provide users with constant feedback on physical activity levels and can be custom-built around individual goals and objectives. With the option to set reminders that are tied to daily progress monitors, you can use apps and wearable devices to prompt you in your quest for incidental activity.

Some of these tools can also come with their own challenges, rewards or other incentives that help their users to reach specific goals or milestones. Depending on how you’re motivated, they can be a great asset in revealing how much time you’re spending in an active state throughout each day.

 

4. Pair your favourite podcast with a walk around the block

If you want to make it even more tempting to reach for your sneakers, pair the act of taking a walk with an episode of your favourite podcast.

Some people find that they’re able to increase their daily activity by choosing to only listen to that podcast when they’re exercising. Others will save the next episode of their favourite TV show for a treadmill session, turning time on the couch into time spent moving while they’re being entertained.

Finding a way to entertain yourself during exercise can also be a great way to distract yourself from the task itself. It’s much easier for time to fly by if you’re immersed in the details of a true crime podcast or are really enjoying a conversation between your favourite hosts – it’s time to habit-stack and create a new routine you’ll be itching to get back to!

 

5. Turn social activities into active catch-ups

Do most of your social engagements take place sitting down? If you always meet your friends for a coffee or a wine, consider turning that catch-up into a walk-and-talk instead. Finding a beautiful trail, walking around a local park or walking by the ocean or a river can be a great way to build incidental exercise into social activities.

You could also make use of social sports like tennis, golf or volleyball as a way to pair exercise with socialisation. There’s no better way to enjoy movement than with a friend by your side.

 

Supporting your health throughout menopause

For Australian women experiencing perimenopause or menopause, finding easy ways to support your health and wellbeing on a daily basis is crucial. You can find more tips and tricks via our newsletter – sign up today to learn more about how simple changes can reduce your symptoms.