MANILA, Philippines?A recent study published in The British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that just by doing 20 minutes of housework, gardening, walking and sports you can lower the risk of psychological distress by 33%.

A study published at the Journal of American Medical Association shows that a program with diet and lifestyle activity has the same effect as the program with diet and structured aerobic exercise when it comes to weight loss, improvement in systolic blood pressure, serum lipid and lipoprotein levels.

You can burn calories just by moving especially if you use more of your lower body like walking, climbing up and down the stairs or sweeping the floor. You don't really have to feel guilty if you miss a group exercise class as long as you make up for it either by walking or doing lifestyle chores.

However, you can get more significant benefits from structured exercise and you can get faster results especially when it comes to endurance, calorie-burn and strength.

For instance, use a grocery basket instead of a cart while doing your grocery shopping. This trains your upper body muscles to be stronger.

If you exceeded your allowance for high-calorie foods for the week, sweat it away by volunteering to scrub the floor at home for 30 minutes.

How can you incorporate physical activities into your routine?

The following calorie-burn values are for a 150-pound person. If you are heavier, you will burn slightly more and if you're lighter, you'll burn slightly less.
(Activity duration: 30 minutes)

Lifestyle activities: These are simple and can be done in your daily routine. According to popular physical activity pyramids, these should be done daily until they become part of your lifestyle.

Walking upstairs = 354 calories

Scrubbing floors = 222 calories

Walking downstairs = 201 calories

Mopping floors = 189 calories

Preparing a meal = 156 calories

Car washing = 144 calories

Washing floors = 137 calories

Vacuuming = 132 calories

Grocery shopping = 126 calories

House cleaning = 126 calories

Auto repair = 125 calories

Making beds = 117 calories

Light gardening = 108 calories

Leisure walking = 104 calories

House painting = 104 calories

Cooking = 93 calories

Dusting = 80 calories

Standing = 72 calories

Just choose one lifestyle activity daily for 30 minutes or more, and at the end of the week, you can accumulate at least 600 calories. In one year, you can lose 8 pounds if it becomes a part of your lifestyle.

Being aware of the calorie-burn equivalents of different physical activities will motivate you to move around.

Substitute walking for riding a car, using the stairs instead of the elevator, and do some of your house work instead of asking your help to do everything.

Structured or formal exercise: This includes cardiovascular exercises and sports which should be done 3 to 5 times a week, weight training, flexibility workout and recreational activities which should be done 2-3 times a week.

Running at 5.5 mph (8.8 kph) = 323 calories
Basketball = 210 calories
Tennis = 204 calories
Brisk walking = 186 calories
Badminton = 160 calories
Dancing = 150 calories
Swimming (crawl) = 140 calories
Golfing = 122 calories
Weight training (moderate) = 100 calories
Stretching = 80 calories

Maintenance and increase of lean muscle mass which is responsible for speeding up your metabolism and losing your body fat is one of the most important benefits of weight training and other forms of cardio exercises.

Specific training for improvement in speed, endurance and sports will result from consistent formal exercises.

Sedentary activities that should be minimized as much as possible are sitting, watching television or playing computer games.

E-mail the author at mitchfelipe@gmail.com