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Active 10 April Activity Challenge

It’s recommended that adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a week, or around 20-30 minutes a day. This activity can be completed in any time frame you like throughout the week, however, it’s also recommended you take part in some form of activity each day, for instance going for a walk.

One of the biggest barriers to getting active we hear time and time again is struggling to find the time for activity. Many of us lead busy lives, with work, childcare and other aspects of life getting in the way of being as active as we’d like to be. However, it can be much easier to fit activity into our day if we break up the time into smaller chunks. Just 10 minutes of moderate level activity counts towards your weekly total and before you know it those minutes start to really add up, leading to a more active lifestyle and the many benefits for both physical and mental health that come with it.

There’s increasing evidence that sitting down for long periods can seriously affect our health. By doing physical activity in shorter time slots, it can help to break up longer periods of time we may spend sitting, for example when we’re working or watching TV.

It's important to note these 10-minute sessions should be completed at moderate intensity; this means at a level that will raise your heartrate, make you breathe slightly heavier and feel warmer. The NHS suggest a moderate intensity is a level where you can still talk but you’d struggle to sing.

The Challenge:

This month’s activity challenge is to complete as many 10-minute sessions of physical activity we can as a community throughout the month.

These 10-minute sessions can be done one at a time here and there, or you can do one longer session, for example 30 minutes, and that will count as three 10-minute slots towards the total.

We’ve put a helpful list of examples of what counts as moderate intensity activity at the bottom of this page along with links to 10-minute activities you might like to try.

How to take part:

All you need to do to take part is keep a record of how many 10-minute sessions of activity you complete over the week, then send your total to us every Monday morning by:

Help finding the time:

Try this useful tip to help you find time in your day that you could use to get active.

Write a complete diary of your day out from start to finish (or complete a full week); when you get up, when you start work, when you take a break, when you have meetings, when you pick the kids up from school, when do you watch tv etc – everything you do, jot it down.

You can then use this to look for opportunities to fit activity in, whether this is 10 minutes here and there or a longer period once in the day. You can use this to make a solid plan for when and how you will get active. Jot down next to the space you’ve found the activity you’ll perform; by having a plan of exactly how and when you’ll be getting active, you’re much more likely to stick to it.

You can also look at opportunities to add activity where you would have usually been sedentary, such as walking or riding to the shop instead of driving, getting off the bus two stops early and walking the remainder of the journey, picking children up from school on foot, walking around the block whilst on the phone for a meeting or chatting to friends/family, cutting the two hours of TV watched in the evening down to one and a half hours etc.

Helpful resources:

Healthy Cornwall Activity Diary

You can easily record and keep track of all the activity you complete weekly using our Activity Diary document.

Check out and download the Activity Diary here

Active 10 App

Brisk walking is one of the easiest ways to add activity into our day. You don’t need any new equipment, you don’t need to prepare anything before starting, there’s no technique to learn and it’s completely free. All you need to do is put your shoes on and head out, or you could even walk around the house or garden.

The Active 10 app helpfully records every minute of walking you do throughout the day. Just pop your phone in your pocket and away you go.

The app can also help you to set a goal, shows you your achievements and gives you top tips on how you can boost activity levels.

Find out more and download the Active 10 App here

Getting Active Community Group:

Keep us updated on your progress, share pictures of your activity sessions and receive motivation, encouragement and support from others in our Cornwall’s Getting Active Community Group

Join the Cornwall's Getting Active Community Group

 

10-Minute Activity Ideas:

(Why not meet a friend to walk or run together – committing to meet someone else to take part in activity means we’re more likely to do it)