Summer Heart Healthy Activities
We have officially started the summer season and now more than ever is the perfect time to give your heart health a boost while having fun. To help you get moving and enjoying the beautiful outdoors, we’ve shared some of our favourite activities to do during the summer.
Fun Summer Activities
Walking
There are so many benefits to walking regularly for your heart health. It’s affordable, accessible, helps you to burn unwanted calories and it’s simple to master. More importantly, especially during the summer, it allows you to go places you may have never gone and discover more of the great outdoors. Most research studies suggest that from three to five hours of walking a week is the optimum for improving health.
A great summer’s day outing with walking in mind is to plan for a picnic in a park. This is an easy activity that every member of your family can do, and can build into a range of other games and sports that more active members of your family can take part in.
Biking
Dust off that bike that’s been sitting in your garage all winter and use it to explore. Biking (depending on how far you go) can be one of the next easiest activities to do. During the summer there is so much to see, so hop on that bike with a friend or loved one and see what your city has to offer.
Make sure to stay well-hydrated while on your biking adventures. You’re more likely to be going further distances, so make sure that you have plenty of snacks and water with you to stay properly energized.
Swimming
This is simply a no-brainer. What better thing to do when there’s sweltering heat than to go to the local pool and cool off during the hotter days of the summer. Many municipalities and city’s have pools that are open to the public; some of them are even free to use! Check out what facilities are available in your area and plan for a day to get a nice tan and to cool off.
Make sure to bring plenty of sunscreen with you when you go to a pool. Often people will apply and then will jump in the pool. This, unfortunately, takes off of that layer of protection that you just put on and leaves you vulnerable to getting a very bad burn. Make sure to re-apply each time you leave the pool and plan to sit in the summer sun.
Low-Activity Sports
If you’re playing a sport it doesn’t always have to be an activity where you’re completely sweating the entire time. Look to join activities that are fun, active and won’t leave you feeling fatigued. Some of our go to’s are Tennis, Golfing, Lawn bowling and simply throwing around a frisbee.
If you need some ideas for other summer activities, we recommend checking out the Participaction website. It has a library full of activities that you can do either by yourself or with others, to keep active.
