Health & Wellness

The easiest way to meet those New Years fitness goals according to an expert

Want to make those New Years resolutions stick?

It's that time of year again when we all make New Year's resolutions about getting fit and staying healthy. But how do we stick to them?

Jay-Jay & Flynny chatted with Dr. Stephen Child from Southern Cross Health Insurance, who had some great suggestions on making those fitness ambitions become fitness routines.

Recently, Southern Cross commissioned a survey of 5000 New Zealanders, asking them about healthy futures and what they consider as healthy. And Dr Child explained that interestingly, New Zealanders on average said that they're exercising for 30 minutes, three times a week. But the most common exercise that people said they did was vigorous housework, which was the activity they found was the most effective for them.

"Exercise as a term is daunting. People think they have to put on Lycra, they have to go to a gym and spend huge gym memberships, etc." Dr Child told Jay-Jay & Flynny.

"And actually, the studies show that it's activity. It's the time in 24 hours in which you're actually up and doing things as opposed to sitting on your butt. It's the activity index that best correlates with healthy outcomes, not the time that you're spending in the gym in Lycra."

Check out Dr Child's best advice for getting exercise in your busy day in our Jay-Jay & Flynny highlight above!