Health, Wellness: Build an Active Home Routine That Sticks

The gym is closed, fitness classes are canceled for the foreseeable future, even walking groups are out as social distancing mandates singular activities. Here are some ways to stay active while hunkered down at home.

As we fight the spread of COVID-19 together, each person plays a part in stopping the spread. Social distancing may be a challenge and it remains the single most effective means to stopping the corona virus. Until health experts and elected officials lift bans on public gatherings every citizen must adhere to the guidelines.


A Different Kind of Force – Policing Mental Illness


In the meantime, it’s unwise to sit around binge-watching sitcoms.

Keeping active is part of the health equation—according to the Centers for Disease Control and Stanford University Medicine, exercise helps mediate stress, and reducing stress helps the immune system. Here are suggestions about how to stay active at home listing things to do to keep moving while observing social distancing.

The Home as the Gym

Take the stairs a few extra times per day. Make two of those trips carrying a basket fully loaded with laundry down to the laundry room, and back up again when everything’s dry.  

Put on workout clothes and tackle a good round of housecleaning: vacuuming, sweeping, and dusting all involve reaching and stretching. Cleaning kitchens and bathrooms requires bending, squatting and a little elbow grease – a workout for legs and arms that results in cleaned and sanitized spaces.


Staying Healthy During Summer - and Year-Round


This is also a good time to de-clutter closets and cabinets. Packing things away for donation provides space and organization. A tidy, well-organized closet is a thing of beauty that improves morale when cooped up at home.

Carrying full boxes out to the car or garage to ready them for delivery to local charity drop off points is a way to do some good while maintaining an appropriate distance from others. Count each box as a round of lifting weights. Launder clothes before donating them.

Even though at-home visits aren’t in the cards right now, reaching out to a personal trainer is worth the effort. There are many advantages to hiring a personal trainer, including the ability to receive phone consultations. A trainer can help maintain motivation with a daily suggestions about how to stay active while at home for as long as self-isolation must last.

Rig a Standing Desk

Standing at a desk is healthier than working seated for hours on end. Place the laptop on the breakfast bar and stand while writing emails and reports. Do knee lifts while reading messages and perform arm stretches while formulating responses. Put on music and take a few dancing breaks—no one’s looking, but just to be on the safe side, cover the laptop’s webcam first. . Rock out to music that encourages movement.


Are You Dating a Narcissist? Seven Red Flags Not to Miss


Cook Meals at Home

It’s surprising how many steps across the kitchen, from the fridge to the sink to the cutting board, it takes to prep a salad or mix up a stir-fry it. Cooking requires standing, bending, and reaching and keeps the cook in control of who touches the food. Setting the table, clearing it, and loading the dishwasher all count as movement as well.


HL Health, Wellness: Feeling Less Than Frisky - Ten Foods to Get You In the Mood


Everyone is worried about COVID-19, but stressing about it won’t make it go away. Drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, staying reasonably active and washing hands frequently will help deflect infection to stay healthy.

Haute Tease

  • 92Y to Hold Virtual Panel on Criminal Justice Reform

    On Tuesday, May 19th, 92nd Street Y will host a virtual continuing education panel on criminal justice reform with a discussion on the coronavirus health crisis that is devastating the prison system, wrongful convictions, and their catastrophic consequences.

     
  • Northeast Corridor Shuts Down in Anticipation of Massive Blizzard Bomb

    From Washington D.C to New York City and as far west as Chicago, upwards of fifty million residents are bracing for Winter Storm Stella, which is expected to produce heavy snow totals, blizzard conditions, plummeting temperatures, and frigid wind chills.

     
  • World News: France’s Imposed Pension Reform Backfires

    France’s imposed pension reform, which has become a pivotal election issue that will determine the candidate’s chances of political success, has the political structure slowly understanding imposed change will backfire with the people happy to change leadership.

     
  • White Sands Review – Danish Cop Drama Delivers

    White Sands, from Topic Studios, an original limited series, presents a light crime drama as two undercover detectives pose as a married couple while investigating the unsolved murder of the brother of a German politician in the seaside village.

     
  • Sicario: Day of the Soldado Review - A High Powered, Bad Ass, Mercenary Thriller

    Sicario: Day of the Soldado, from Sony Pictures Entertainment, picks up the story of the dirty deeds mercenary and his team as they weed out the strengthening Mexican cartels by instigating an inner cartel war with disastrous results.

     
  • Charlie Hebdo Slaughter: The World Unites Against Extremism

    The world stood in solidarity with the 12 journalists, from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, executed yesterday as three Islamic terrorists charged the Paris headquarters known for its offensive and humorous caricatures of extremists’ leaders.