Get up and move

Exercise is good for you regardless of your age, gender or ability.

Our bodies NEED to move.

It's been said that the chair is the most dangerous thing that was ever invented because of the amount of time that we spend sat around.

Today I was reading about a hospital in Southern England who have an exercise bike in the Intensive Care Unit!!!

The article explained that people in ICU are sometimes there for months and they can't get out of bed. If you just lie around your muscles start to waste away.

The video showed a lady who's been really ill with pneumonia using this special exercise bike. This was a really quality bit of kit. They said it costs £7000 and even people who are in a coma can use it.

The doctor that they interviewed said that everyone that's used the bike has benefitted and quite often people can go home earlier than if they hadn't had the exercise.

The lady with pneumonia said she got told off for going to fast on it but that she felt better after she'd used it. She "cycles" about 3 miles a day on the bike.

For people who are too poorly to make the bike work themselves there's a motor thing that will help them. The whole point of it is that they can get the blood pumping around their bodies.

The hospital was fundraising to be able to get more of these bikes to help other people in other hospital ICUs. Hopefully we won't ever have to make use of these machines. In the meantime though it's good to get up and move around as much as you can.

Even if you can't afford special exercise machines there's still things you can do. I do press ups against the wall. I do squats when I'm on hold on the phone. I run up and down the stairs whenever I need to use them. I walk as quickly as I can and park at the far end of the car park. Not big things but they add up.