What is active living?
Print version
(pdf)
Active living is an approach to life that values and includes physical activity in everyday living.
You can find ways to be active at school, at home, at work and during leisure time, at any time of the year.
Active living is made up of different types of activities such as:
- walking or wheeling
- gardening, picking fruit, shovelling snow
- stretching at your desk
- playing with your kids
- playing team sports
- swimming or aquacize
- hiking, cycling or snowboarding and
- many other activities!
Being active can help you improve and maintain your:
- physical and mental health
- independence
- overall well-being and quality of life.
Active living is meant to be inclusive
You can be active regardless of your ability, age, gender or ethnic origin. There are also many ways to be active that are not expensive, or are free, so you don’t have to have lots of money to be active.
Other terms for active living
Active living is a broad concept. Here are other terms often used to describe active living:
- Exercise is a type of physical activity where movements are planned, structured and repeated. Examples of exercise include weight lifting, walking on a treadmill or using a stair machine. People who exercise do it to improve or maintain their level of physical fitness.
- Physical activity is any body movement of skeletal muscles (i.e., muscles that attach to bones) that uses energy.
- Physical fitness describes how able you are to do a type of physical activity. You can measure your physical fitness with cardio-respiratory (heart and lung) tests or with strength and flexibility tests.
- Sport is planned physical activity that follows a set of rules and is competitive.
Resources
- Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology) — Provides active living information for adults. Includes links to guides for children, youth and older adults.
- CHN Active Living FAQs (Alberta Centre for Active Living)—Answer frequently asked questions on active living, its benefits and how to be active.
