The Lakeland Primary Care Network is joining a province wide initiative to encourage physical activity.
The Get Out Get Active (GOGA) Challenge is a free 6-week event that is open to everyone, regardless of age, fitness level or ability. The program’s website describes itself as a “virtual health journey” where participants can log their activity and have them converted into steps similar to a fitbit. You can use such a device yourself to log your activity but the site will also be able to convert time spent doing certain things and convert them into a roughly equivalent number of steps. As they log more and more activity they’ll watch their virtual character turn from a zombie sitting on the couch with their zombie to a superhero getting out every day.
Primary Care Networks across Alberta are concerned with more and more sedentary lifestyles and are trying to educate the public on the benefits of regular exercise. They’ve included some facts to back up their concerns.
- Less than 5% of children and 15% of adults are meeting the recommendations in Canada’s Physical Activity Guidelines.
- 1/3 of all Albertans are sedentary (not moving) for more than 10 hours every day.
- On average, Albertans sit for 8 hours and 50 minutes per day.
- Physical inactivity is a global health issue more concerning than obesity.
As you go along the program’s path, you’ll learn more about how your body reacts to more activity. You can sign up at http://GetOutGetActivePCN.com/
The challenge runs from April 24th to June 4th.