Staying Active During the Crisis

From Dept of Health & Children, 11 April 2020

Your normal exercise routine is very likely to have been severely impacted by the current COVID-19 outbreak. The demands of remote working or home-schooling kids may be keeping you busy, you may be working long hours in an essential role or, alternatively, you may be waiting at home for normal life to resume.
Whatever your situation, staying active now has never been more important. Keeping physically active is vital for both your physical and your mental health and wellbeing. Being active can help you deal with anxiety and stress and getting outdoors, if you can, is really important.

Activity at Home
There are lots of options to keep fit if you have to remain at home.
The guidelines recommend 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity five days a week for adults, but short bouts of physical activity (even 10 minutes at a time) can quickly add up to 30 minutes. For kids it’s 60 minutes a day –and we have lots more information for them below.
The important thing is that no matter what your age or circumstance you need to keep moving, so make sure to include some physical activity in your daily plan.
Sport Ireland has been busy compiling a list of great resources to help you stay active and healthy at home, here are just a few:

• Athletics Ireland have a range of home workout skills and drills videos that you can follow from your own home or garden. You can watch one of their videos here and on the Athletics Ireland channel

the Camogie Association have plenty of skills challenges to keep you sharp. A full range of exercises and challenges are available on camogie.ie

• Special Olympics Ireland are releasing exercises for their athletes every day for the coming weeks. The inclusive exercises will focus on endurance, strength, flexibility and balance. Everyone in the family is encouraged to take part in the daily challenges. For more information follow @specialolympicsireland on Facebook and Instagram
• the swimming pools may be shut at the moment but Swim Ireland have put together a guide to keeping fit and staying healthy during COVID-19
• the Local Sports partnerships are working to continue their work of increasing sport and physical activity in their local communities, through live workouts, skills challenges and regular social media content
• Sport Ireland's social media channels will be updated with advice on how to stay active daily. We recommend you follow them here:

 

• the GAA, in association with Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health, has developed an online training module called One Good Coach . Based on Jigsaw’s latest research, the interactive content is designed to help coaches (or anyone engaging with young people) to better understand how they can support their mental health and wellbeing and to increase awareness of the close links between physical and mental health

Keeping kids active
Kids need to be active every day. All activity, no matter how short, counts. Keeping kids active helps them to build strong muscles, healthy bones, agility and co-ordination, while improving self-esteem, mood, energy and sleep patterns.

• kids should play and be active at a moderate to vigorous level, for at least 60 minutes every day
• if you have a garden playing games outside as a family is a great way to get some fresh air and physical activity in without even thinking. There are some great ideas at START to get you started
• there’s some brilliant weekly skill drills and wellbeing challenges being developed by top GAA players and coaches to help everyone stay active and stay well while staying home. Why don’t you get everyone to join in and become part of the team? All details are available here or just follow your local GAA club our county social media accounts
• parkrun also have a range of videos called School of parkrun, setting daily parkrun themed tasks covering 5 subjects; English, Maths, Science, Geography, and Art
• sometimes all you need is a wall and a hurley/football/tennis racket and a ball
• babies and toddlers need to be physically active too. Chasing games and music and action songs are a great way to encourage them to be physically active or try also, light activities, such as building blocks or playing on the floor
• ball activities like kicking, catching and throwing
• copycat activities such as skip, jump, hop

Here is one example of activity to keep your little ones busy while they are off school. Joe Wicks aka the Body Coach is doing a live workout every weekday morning at 9am. It’s aimed at kids but parents are very welcome to join in too!

Activity for Older People
As you get older it is really important to stay active, and this is even more so the case if you are cocooning.
Being active can help your body to stay strong and supple, improve balance and coordination aiding in falls prevention, cheers you up and boosts your energy.
Just 30 minutes activity a day could have a huge impact on your health.
Here are some tips to get you going:

• light housework, gardening or walking around your farm are all good ways to keep active while staying safe
• Siel Bleu have some great exercise videos on their YouTube page
• you can also find some strengthening exercises for older adults developed by HSE Physiotherapists in association with Cork Healthy Cities here
• the HSE also have some more tips and info on indoor exercises for older people here
• Age and Opportunity have a Fitline that you can call for tips and advice on getting active
• Age and Opportunity are livestreaming exercise videos on Facebook on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11am

You can watch more of their videos here.

Outdoor Activity
Continue to spend time outdoors if you can. Fresh air is vital for the physical and mental health of the whole family. It can help improve our mood, reduce stress and anxiety and enhance self-esteem and sense of wellbeing.

Here are a few tips to ensure you get the exercise you need while keeping safe:

• current advice states that you can go no more than 2 kilometres from your home and maintain social distancing of 2 metres from other people who aren’t your household members. 2 kilometres is approximately a 30 minute walk
  
• walking is a great way to get outside for fresh air and some gentle exercise. The most important thing is to aim for a pace that slightly raises your heartbeat and makes you breathe a little faster and feel a little warmer. Once you can still talk, you're doing well!
• plan your outdoor exercise. If you are within 2 kilometres of parks or green areas, going out at quieter times of day is always a good option
• When the UV index is 3 or above you need to protect your skin. In Ireland, the UV index is usually 3 or above from April to September, even when it is cloudy. Stay safe by limiting time in the sun when UV is strongest, typically between the hours of 11:00am-3:00pm. Apply sunscreen with a SPF factor of at least 30+ for adults and 50+ for children. You can find more information on protecting your skin here

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