Increasing physical activity has the potential to improve the physical and mental health and wellbeing of individuals, families, communities and the nation as a whole. Medical Specialists want to see more people being physically active. This campaign runs from July - September 2018, so let’s all get involved. People in the UK are around 20% less active now than in the 1960s. If current trends continue, we will be 35% less active by 2030. We are the first generation to need to make a conscious decision to build physical activity into our daily lives. These are a few activities that provide physical and mental health benefits:

• Walking
• Cycling
• Gardening
• Hiking
• Dancing
• Swimming

As a general goal, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. If you want to lose weight or meet specific fitness goals, you may need to exercise more. You can achieve more health benefits, including increased weight loss, if you ramp up your exercise to 300 minutes a week. The link between physical inactivity and obesity is well established. With more than half of adults in England currently overweight or obese, everyone can benefit from being more active every day. At Medical Specialists we provide weight loss medication for anyone that is wanting help to lose weight that has a BMI over 28. The benefits of physical activity can help reduce:

• The impact of some side effects
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Impaired mobility
• Weight changes

Many people don’t realise that physical activity has significant benefits for health, both physical and mental, and can help to prevent and reduce the risk of over 20 chronic conditions. These include dementia, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, colon cancer and cardiovascular disease. Given the overwhelming evidence, it seems obvious that we should all be physically active. It's essential if you want to live a healthy and fulfilling life into old age. Stay healthy, try to be active every day and aim to achieve at least 150 minutes of physical activity over a week. The best way to do it is going for a walk or cycling, try not use your car through the week and get exercising instead. However, the more you do, the better, and taking part in activities such as sports and exercise will make you even healthier.