Remaining active while juggling a busy personal and professional life exists as one of the great balancing acts of our time. Additionally, the vast majority of working professionals have roles which confine them to desks and screens for extended periods of time. Regardless of how fulfilling or stimulating the work, sitting for several hours is not healthy for anyone. So how do we incorporate more movement into daily life? There are more opportunities than you may think to get moving each day. This guide explains how to realistically develop an active lifestyle for you and your family. 

Prioritize Motion: Find Opportunities to Move

An active lifestyle is vital for optimal health. Regular exercise can prevent a multitude of diseases, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Aside from boosting energy, exercise enhances mood, harnesses concentration, and can lead to greater productivity at work. Identifying opportunities for movement throughout the day stands as an excellent way to ramp up your physical activity. 

• Schedule your workouts: Frame your exercise sessions as non-negotiable events. If you set aside specific times each week for physical activity, you are more likely to prioritize wellness. Start small. A workout does not need to clock in at 90 minutes every day. Consider dedicating 30 minutes every three days for a workout, and grow from there.
• Weave (active!) breaks into your day: Throughout your workday, take a break every hour or two, and move. It doesn’t need to be groundbreaking; you don’t need to run a race during your lunch hour or cascade down the hallway doing backflips. But if you integrate five minutes of movement—by walking around your office or practicing a few stretches at your desk—five times a day, you add an additional 25 minutes of movement into your day. 
• Utilize your commute: If feasible, and depending upon the season, consider walking or biking a portion of your commute. Alternatively, if you drive to your place of employment, park your car a bit farther away. Small, creative shifts to your commute not only add more activity to your day but can reinvigorate your mornings and evenings. 
• Resist the urge to burrow into the couch after work: The Witching Hours—yes, I’m referring to those hours that follow the workday. The prospect of sinking into the couch can be appealing after a long day or week, but if you’ve been sitting at your desk for 8+ hours, another four to five hours of zero movement isn’t healthy for the body or mind. It can be a challenge to get moving in the darker months of winter, but change it up by taking a yoga or exercise class—whether online or in person—or walking around your neighborhood for 20 minutes. If it feels like a big ask to be active every night, aim for three nights a week as a starting point. 

Cultivate Healthy Habits as a Family

For many families, socialization often centers around eating or participating in sedentary activities—holiday meals, barbecues, going out to eat, seeing a movie, playing board games, and more. While these are certainly fun activities, integrating exercise into your family’s routine is healthy for adults and kids alike. 

• Plan Family Activities: Set aside weekends or evenings for physical activity, including  walking, hiking, biking, or playing sports together. For instance, a family bike ride on a Saturday or Sunday morning can become an enjoyable weekly tradition that brings everyone outside in a positive, healthful way. 
• Fly a Kite: This one may sound out of left field, but flying a kite is wildly fun for people of all ages. Every time I visit my parents in the United States, my mom insists we go to this hill nearby and fly a kite—I kid you not. Her kite is this rather radiant eagle, and I fly the brightly-colored dragonfly. Kite-flying also requires a bit more finesse and coordination than you may believe—making it a light-hearted, upbeat activity. 
• Take Group Classes: Look for group classes that a few (or all!) of you may enjoy, such as yoga, barre, pilates, dance, or kickboxing. Research indicates that kids are more likely to remain active in adulthood if they were exposed to regular exercise in their family unit. 
• Create Outdoor Family Traditions: Dedicate time to outdoor activities—like Friday evening walks or games in the backyard on the first day of summer. These traditions foster lasting memories and make wellness a natural part of the ebb and flow of life.
• Use Technology Intentionally: Fitness apps and active video games can make movement dynamic and novel. For example, games that incorporate dancing or sports simulations promote activity and engage family members.

Strategies to Combat Inactivity

• Set Realistic Goals: Establish manageable daily targets, whether it’s 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 45 minutes. Everyone is different, so start with a goal that feels best for you, and gradually increase your time as you become more comfortable. Micro-goals are foundational to making exercise a lifestyle. 
• Track Your Progress: There are a myriad of fitness apps available which allow you to observe your level of activity, whether it be daily steps or the number of workout sessions you’ve logged in a particular week. Witnessing your progress can be motivating and helpful in solidifying your goals. 
• Incorporate Meditation: Practicing meditation can lend balance and well-roundedness to your routine and allow you to address stress and anxiety in a mindful, health-oriented way. 
• Celebrate Small Victories: Recognize your achievements. Identifying progress, in all forms, strengthens your dedication to an active lifestyle.

Ultimately, the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle involve a series of realistic, concerted efforts carried out consistently that, with time, form a pattern of behavior that unfolds into a way of being. Making small, manageable changes each day is the first meaningful step toward creating a healthier life. Most importantly, you don’t begin by doing a triathlon. You begin by getting off the couch and taking a stroll down your street. 

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