How healthy is your mobile lifestyle?

Are you too busy texting, friending and hashtagging to keep up with the other part of your “mobile” lifestyle: regular physical activity?

Regular exercise is important because it improves your overall health and fitness, and lowers your risk for many chronic diseases.1 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests:

}} Two hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking, every week.

}} Muscle strengthening exercises at least two days a week.

Spread it out over the week so you don’t have to do it all at once. You can even break it up into chunks as small as 10 minutes to make it easier to fit into your day.

Breathe hard and break a sweat

Aerobic exercise simply means you’re breathing harder and your heart is beating faster. For moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, you should also be breaking a sweat. Any of these activities count as aerobic exercise:

}} Walking fast

}} Doing water aerobics

}} Riding a bike

}} Playing tennis

}} Mowing the lawn

You don’t need fancy equipment or a gym membership to stay active. The key to success is finding something you like that fits your routine so you’re more likely to stick with it for longer.

Get the same health benefits in less timeIntense aerobic exercise means your heart is beating very fast and your breathing is hard enough that you can’t say more than a few words without pausing. You can mix moderate and intense activity to get the same health benefits in less time. Follow this rule of thumb from the CDC: “One minute of vigorous-intensity activity is about the same as two minutes of moderate-intensity activity.”

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1 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: How much physical activity do adults need? (accessed May 2014): cdc.gov.Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of: In Colorado: Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service, Inc. HMO products underwritten by HMO Colorado, Inc. In Connecticut: Anthem Health Plans, Inc. In Indiana: Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. In Kentucky: Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky, Inc. In Maine: Anthem Health Plans of Maine, Inc. In Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area): RightCHOICE® Managed Care, Inc. (RIT), Healthy Alliance® Life Insurance Company (HALIC), and HMO Missouri, Inc. RIT and certain affiliates administer non-HMO benefits underwritten by HALIC and HMO benefits underwritten by HMO Missouri, Inc. RIT and certain affiliates only provide administrative services for self-funded plans and do not underwrite benefits. In Nevada: Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service, Inc. HMO products underwritten by HMO Colorado, Inc., dba HMO Nevada. In New Hampshire: Anthem Health Plans of New Hampshire, Inc. HMO plans are administered by Anthem Health Plans of New Hampshire, Inc. and underwritten by Matthew Thornton Health Plan, Inc. In Ohio: Community Insurance Company. In Virginia: Anthem Health Plans of Virginia, Inc. trades as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia, and its service area is all of Virginia except for the City of Fairfax, the Town of Vienna, and the area east of State Route 123. In Wisconsin: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin (BCBSWi), which underwrites or administers the PPO and indemnity policies; Compcare Health Services Insurance Corporation (Compcare), which underwrites or administers the HMO policies; and Compcare and BCBSWi collectively, which underwrite or administer the POS policies. Independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Resist and repeat

Strength training should involve all your major muscle groups, like your legs, hips, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders and arms. If you’re doing push-ups, do them until it becomes hard to finish another one. 8-12 push-ups would make a set. Strive for two or three sets. Remember, strength training doesn’t count toward your aerobic activity total.

You could do any of these twice a week to reach your weekly strength-training goal:

}} Lifting weights

}} Working with resistance bands

}} Using your body weight for resistance (such as push-ups or sit-ups)

}} Gardening (such as digging and shoveling)

}} Doing yoga

Stay social and stay healthy

Liking and sharing on the Internet can be entertaining, but you can enhance your social networking and get a health boost by joining a fitness group. Search the Internet to find groups for biking, swimming, running, hiking and many other activities you already enjoy or would like to try.

More healthy resources online

The anthem.com website has fresh ideas for how you and your family can live the healthy lifestyle you desire. Log in today and visit the Health & Wellness section for more healthy resources.