Staying active and busy during the Coronavirus outbreak

Posted on 1 April, 2020

With most of us having to stay indoors for the next few weeks, following Government advice to stay at home to stop the spread of coronavirus, we thought we’d put together some suggestions to relieve the boredom!

We know our homesitters and clients are an active bunch, so we’ve mixed these up with a few exercise suggestions along with activities that can be done in the home:

​Ensure you go out for daily exercise

Government advice is that you can leave your home once a day to exercise, so make sure you do this daily. Clients with dogs will no doubt be doing a long walk every day, but homesitters without pets could explore their local area on foot too. People from the same household can walk together so why not take a different route every day? You may be surprised what you discover! Jogging or cycling is also an option – just heed the advice and don’t drive anywhere to do this. Stay local.

​YouTube exercise videos

Since the lockdown there have been hundreds of exercise videos flooding the internet, adding to those that were already there.Everything from high intensity Zumba and HIIT workouts, to more tranquil Pilates, Yoga and daily stretching classes – there is something for every taste and fitness level! If you are a member of a gym you may also find they are putting out videos with their usual instructors, so check them out too if you have a favourite class you can no longer attend.

​Jogging or dancing in your house

If you are stuck self-isolating then jogging on the spot or around your garden if it’s big enough is a great option. A low-impact aerobic exercise, such as jogging in one place, will burn approximately 183 calories in a 160-pound person over the duration of 30 minutes.[i] Or stick the music on and just dance around your living room for 30 minutes at a time. Get the whole household involved for a bit of fun!

​Free ballet for the over 55s

If you’ve always fancied having a go at ballet, but felt you were too old, then this is for you. The Academy of Dance (RAD) is bringing 100 years of dancing expertise to your living room with virtual tutorials designed to keep over 55s twinkling their toes. These are airing from Wednesday 1 April 2020, so why not have a go? Click here for more information.

​Keeping a diary

Many of our homesitters keep a diary when they are out on assignment.This is something we all could do during this period and record what we did during the day, how we are feeling, as well as anything interesting that you read or hear about. The situation the world finds itself in right now was unthinkable a few months ago. It will be really interesting to look back on how we all coped during this time once normal life resumes. It could also be a reminder to not take things for granted when we get back to our busy lives.

​Decluttering the house

How about going from room to room and doing a proper declutter? Most of us hoard lots of things we don’t need or use that are usually hidden in cupboards, in the shed/garage or the loft. Now is the perfect time for sorting through your entire house, going from room to room, then moving on to the shed, loft or garage and getting rid of things. When it comes to clothes, if you haven’t worn them in the last two years, you are unlikely to. You could extend this to everything you have and if you haven’t seen it for five years then perhaps it’s time to get rid of it?

​Teaching your pet some new commands

For clients with pets now could be a good time to teach your dog (or cat) some new tricks! This will help relieve your boredom and engage your dog in some mental agility. There are plenty of online tutorials for training dogs so pick one that suits the level your dog is at. People often think it’s only dogs that can be trained but cats can be trained to a degree too. We wrote a blog about this last year so take a look at this for some tips. Remember this should be fun for your pet so always work within their limits and stop when they are fed up.

​Spring clean your house from top to bottom

This is a great time to get your spring cleaning done and give each room and everything in it a thorough clean. This includes cleaning ovens, microwaves, fridges, under beds, windows etc. Door handles and switches should be done daily at the moment too during the Coronavirus outbreak, as this is where viruses can live for a few days. Remember to do your outside bin handles as well, before and after the bin men have been. Here are some tips from House Beautiful magazine to get you started.

​Cooking

Most households have several cook books that never see the light of day. There are also many online cooking tutorials with several celebrity chefs putting out YouTube videos with coronavirus isolation meal suggestions, like this one from John Torode.With plenty of time for cooking and eating meals together, learning a few new recipes is likely to go down very well! It’s also something you could do together with your partner or children.

There are thousands of ways that people are keeping busy at this time. We’d love to know what you are up to so please share your ideas, thoughts and suggestions on our Facebook page.

[i] https://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/cardio/is-jogging-in-place-beneficial.html

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