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Why is fitness important during the pandemic?

Even though fitness may look different during the pandemic, it's still important to keep moving.

The pandemic could be causing another major health crisis due to reduced physical activity.

At a time when lockdowns and quarantines are forcing many to stay home, it can be difficult to maintain an active lifestyle. But the World Health Organization is sounding the alarm and encouraging folks to get up and move or face dangerous consequences.

Health officials recommend adults of all ages get a minimum of 150 minutes of "vigorous physical activity per week." That's about 22 minutes a day. As for kids and teenagers, they need even more...at least an hour of exercise every day.

Ruediger Krech, Director of Health Promotion for the World Health Organization, increasing physical, physical activity not only helps prevent and manage heart disease, type-2 diabetes and cancer, it also reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety.

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He also says that being sedentary doesn't just hurt your body...it can also have negative impacts on the economy.

Krech says, "In 2016, estimates highlighted that inactivity costs the health system about $54 billion U.S. dollars in health care and costs another $14 billion U.S. dollars in lost productivity."

Officials say there's no time like the present to start moving more, adding that current rates of of inactivity are already too high, with one in four adults and a staggering 80 percent of adolescents without enough physical activity.

When it comes to staying fit inside the home, experts recommend simple activities like walking up and down stairs, using furniture as exercise equipment, and walking around outside.

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