Staying active during COVID-19

The demands of working from home and caring for kids may be keeping you busy, you may be working long hours in an essential role or, alternatively, you may be waiting at home for normal life to resume.

Whatever your situation, staying active now has never been more important. Keeping physically active is vital for both your physical and your mental health and wellbeing. Being active can help you deal with anxiety and stress and getting outdoors, if you can, is really important.

You can listen to our radio ad on staying active here.

There are lots of options to keep fit even from the comfort of your own home.

The guidelines recommend 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity five days a week for adults, but short bouts of physical activity (even 10 minutes at a time) can quickly add up to 30 minutes. For kids it’s 60 minutes a day –and we have lots more information for them below.

The important thing is that no matter what your age or circumstance you need to keep moving, so make sure to include some physical activity in your daily plan.

Sport Ireland has created an information hub to help keep you active and informed. This hub includes a list of great resources to help you stay active and healthy at home, here are just a few:

• Athletics Ireland have a range of home workout skills and drills videos that you can follow from your own home or garden. You can watch one of their videos here and on the Athletics Ireland channel

• the Camogie Association have plenty of skills challenges to keep you sharp. A full range of exercises and challenges are available on camogie.ie
• Special Olympics Ireland are releasing exercises for their athletes every day for the coming weeks. The inclusive exercises will focus on endurance, strength, flexibility and balance. Everyone in the family is encouraged to take part in the daily challenges. For more information follow @specialolympicsireland on Facebookand Instagram
• Swim Ireland have put together a guide to keeping fit and staying healthy during COVID-19
• the Sport Ireland Local Sports Partnership Network is continuing to help people to get physically active and participating in sport in the community through innovative programmes, live workouts, skills challenges, regular social media content and much more
• Sport Ireland's social media channels will be updated with advice on how to stay active daily. We recommend you follow them here: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Continue to spend time outdoors, as fresh air is vital for the physical and mental health of the whole family. It can help improve our mood, reduce stress and anxiety and enhance self-esteem and sense of wellbeing.

Here are a few tips to ensure you get the exercise you need while keeping safe:

• We can now meet in groups outdoors for sport and exercise, however social distancing of 2m is to be maintained.
• sharing of sports equipment is to be avoided.
• please make sure to give others space who may be walking or also exercising around you.
• Sport Ireland has developed guidelinesaround exercising safely outdoors, in line with Phase 3 of the roadmap, from June 29th to August 10th.
• walking is a great way to get outside for fresh air and some gentle exercise. The most important thing is to aim for a pace that slightly raises your heartbeat and makes you breathe a little faster and feel a little warmer. Once you can still talk, you're doing well!
• plan your outdoor exercise. If you are within advisable distance of parks or green areas, going out at quieter times of day is always a good option
• you can find more advice below around protecting yourself and others while exercising outdoors

Protect Your Skin

• When the UV index is 3 or above you need to protect your skin. In Ireland, the UV index is usually 3 or above from April to September, even when it is cloudy. Limit time in the sun when UV is strongest, typically between the hours of 11am and 3pm.
• The best way to protect your skin is to be SunSmart and follow the 5S's - Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, and Slide.
• Slip on Clothing: Cover skin as much as possible, wear long sleeves, collared t-shirts, clothes made from close-woven material that does not allow sunlight through.
• Slop on Broad-Spectrum (UVA/UVB) Sunscreen: Apply sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30+ for adults and 50+ for children, with high UVA protection, and water resistant. Reapply regularly. No sunscreen can provide 100% protection, it should be used alongside other protective measures such as clothing and shade.
• Slap on a Wide Brimmed Hat: Protect your face, ears and neck.
• Seek Shade: Sit in cover of trees to avoid direct sunlight. Use a sunshade on your buggy or pram. Keep babies and children out of direct sunlight.
• Slide on Sunglasses: Guard your eyes from harm by wearing sunglasses with UV protection.
• You can find more information on protecting your skin here

• You can listen to our radio ad on protecting your skin here

Kids need to be active every day. All activity, no matter how short, counts. Keeping kids active helps them to build strong muscles, healthy bones, agility and co-ordination, while improving self-esteem, mood, energy and sleep patterns.

• kids should play and be active at a moderate to vigorous level, for at least 60 minutes every day
• if you have a garden playing games outside as a family is a great way to get some fresh air and physical activity in without even thinking. There are some great ideas at START to get you started
• there’s some brilliant weekly skill drills and wellbeing challenges being developed by top GAA players and coaches to help everyone stay active and stay well while staying home. Why don’t you get everyone to join in and become part of the team? All details are available here or just follow your local GAA club our county social media accounts
• parkrun also have a range of videos called School of parkrun,setting daily parkrun themed tasks covering 5 subjects; English, Maths, Science, Geography, and Art
• sometimes all you need is a wall and a hurley/football/tennis racket and a ball
• babies and toddlers need to be physically active too. Chasing games and music and action songs are a great way to encourage them to be physically active or try also, light activities, such as building blocks or playing on the floor
• ball activities like kicking, catching and throwing
• copycat activities such as skip, jump, hop

Here is one example of activity to keep your little ones busy while they are off school. Joe Wicks aka the Body Coach has a series of workouts, specifically for kids available on his youtube channel. It’s aimed at kids but parents are very welcome to join in too!

As you get older it is really important to stay active. Being active can help your body to stay strong and supple, improve balance and coordination aiding in falls prevention, cheers you up and boosts your energy.

Just 30 minutes activity a day could have a huge impact on your health.

Here are some tips to get you going:

• light housework, gardening or walking around your farm are all good ways to keep active while staying safe
• Siel Bleu have some great exercise videos on their YouTube page
• you can also find some strengthening exercises for older adults developed by HSE Physiotherapists in association with Cork Healthy Cities here
• the HSE also have some more tips and info on indoor exercises for older people here
• the Institute of Public Health have some tips, advice and suggestions for how to keep active.

• Age and Opportunity have a Fitline that you can call for tips and advice on getting active
• Age and Opportunity are livestreaming exercise videos on Facebook on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11am

You can watch more of their videos here.