Are you going out for exercise?

[TalkSenseIntoMe]

I feel stupid asking this but as the COVID rate is now up to 1 in 15 in some parts of London...are people still going out for exercise? I had planned a forest walk with my DC today but now I’m wondering if I’m being irresponsible? We know the virus doesn’t hang around in the air but the message seems so clearly focused on STAY AT HOME. Exercise is allowed, I know, but it seems at odds with the stay at home message. Maybe the new variant does hang around in the air? Oh I’m being hysterical aren’t I? Tell me to get a grip and go out please.

@Unicant

Sadly I only managed to get out on the weekends now because I can't manage with both my kids on the main road then River I have to walk past.. and my husband works long days apart from the weekend.. so we've been out for a three hour walk on sat and an hour walk on Sunday and thats it. We dont have a garden either so the kids are going mental its a nightmare. Im not doing well in this lockdow.. it was easier when the days were a bit longer in the spring. I could get out every day then for at least a little sunlight..

How old are you your children?

So presumably you’ve never been able to walk during the weeks alone with the children and nothing to do with covid?

Only because you've asked and used the words yourself (generally i don't like strangers ranting "get a grip" at people!): get a grip and go out!
It's really really important to stay healthy and being outside in nature, even in the dim and dingy weather we're having, gives you a bit of Vitamin D and a physical and mental health boost.

Yes, a walk to and from the local park daily. I wear my mask whenever outside now and DCs know if too many other children are at the park we will go to football pitch/wooded area for a run about rather than to the playground area.

If you can get outside safely then do. People need to take some responsibility for their own physical and mental health.

Yes of course.

Staying in will definitely have a negative impact on my physical and mental health.

I am unlikely to catch covid in the open air.

Even if I do catch it it is likely to be just a flu type illness for me.

Staying inside makes no sense, and I will not put my own physical and mental health on the line on the very slim possibility that I will spread a virus I’m unlikely to catch outside. I suggest the people who are very frightened of catching it stay in, as none of the rest of us owe you our physical and mental health.

You need to be outside every day. Vitamin D, mental health.

Why refuse your friend if youre keeping 2n apart outside? That’s allowed for a good reason!

Because the overriding position and message is stay at home.

Any contact is potentially transmitting the virus and you only have to look at people vaping and how far the vapour travels to see that 2m is an arbitrary distance. Its safer than being outside but it isn't 100% safe. I don't want to be part of the problem since I want things to get back to normal as quickly as possible.

Plus people are not keeping 2m apart. 2m is quite a big distance and you have to raise your voice to talk.

Plus I can exercise at home, I don't need to be out and about potentially transmitting virus to exercise. My friend actually wants the social contact not the exercise.

@FuckOffBorisYouTwat

I am so worried about the health of so many children after this. Pre covid my kids were very sporty (about four hours of high cardio exercise outside of PE plus walking about 40 mins to school and back and a couple of hours of dog walking a week) now I have to drag them out for a measly half hour walk once a day and I know this is more than some of their peers. It is a disaster waiting to happen.n

I totally agree - yet another way in which the young are being screwed.

Yes, exercise is really important.

My friend actually wants the social contact not the exercise

Perhaps she wants both. I will run much further if I have company. Yes we can have a chat, but the main thing is that we spur each other on. If I go out on my own I do 4-5 miles at most. If I go out with a friend we do more like 6-7.

Perhaps she wants both. I will run much further if I have company. Yes we can have a chat, but the main thing is that we spur each other on. If I go out on my own I do 4-5 miles at most. If I go out with a friend we do more like 6-7.

She is wandering around stately homes gardens with a coffee, not running. Plus she has a swimming pool and home gym so it is not necessary for her to leave the house to exercise.

Anyway that's very particular to her, but the point is no Im not going out to exercise because I don't need to and I don't want to be part of the problem.

Not in London, thank goodness, but yes, going out with the dog twice a day and to care for my horse (not at home) once a day regardless of the guidance to stay at home and only go out once. It simply isn't feasible in my life not to go out due to needing to care for the animals. Everyone I know who also has dogs/horses/livestock is going out as much as they need to to ensure animal welfare. (We live in a very rural location)

Whilst out of the house, I am usually alone, and, of course, outside in all weathers so the risk of transmission is about as close to zero as it's possible to get.

I must admit after watching the Whitty interview this morning, I am wondering whether to still meet a friend for a walk at the weekend. I know we're allowed but should we really do this if we can manage chatting on the phone or WhatsApp rather than in person?

As for most people, I'm just wanting to see someone other than DH or the kids in real life!

My friend actually wants the social contact not the exercise

What's actually wrong with that, though? Lockdowns have such a huge impact on people's mental health. It's not normal or healthy to isolate yourself at home and not see anyone apart from your immediate family unit for months on end.

Exercise, fresh air and social interaction are all so important good for mental health. There's a good reason exercise and seeing friends is recommended for people who suffer from depression and other mental health problems.

@MrsJBaptiste

I must admit after watching the Whitty interview this morning, I am wondering whether to still meet a friend for a walk at the weekend. I know we're allowed but should we really do this if we can manage chatting on the phone or WhatsApp rather than in person?

As for most people, I'm just wanting to see someone other than DH or the kids in real life!

I don't think a lot of this is very good advice health-wise or even medically. Some doctors, Whitty included, think that minimising everything reduces risk of injury, whereas it actually increases other kinds of problems. I think Professor Whitty's advice, well intended though it is, is now reaching the level of being counter-productive, and I will be making my own decisions.

Although I used to do quite a few medical negligence cases (solicitor) and so take with a pinch of salt some medical "advice" when its blatantly incorrect and proven to be so.

Also bear in mind that Professor Whitty isn't a government minister, he isn't even an MP and he isn't accountable - this is a trait of this government, to appoint non-elected persons in positions of power and to hand over masses of responsibility to them. Its not balanced decision-making, its a sign of ineptitude.

No, I’m not. I’m 60 and idle by nature.
I don’t need it for my mental health, I do tai chi at home and I potter in my garden. That’s it. Works for me.
I think Vitamin D supplements and a healthy diet are a more effective method in a British winter than the pathetic amount of low daylight we get.
I’ll go back to walking in the springtime, as I usually do.

I don't think a lot of this is very good advice health-wise or even medically. Some doctors, Whitty included, think that minimising everything reduces risk of injury, whereas it actually increases other kinds of problems. I think Professor Whitty's advice, well intended though it is, is now reaching the level of being counter-productive, and I will be making my own decisions.

Chris Whitty was talking about how important exercise is this morning. He wasn’t saying people should stop exercising.

@Sethy38 well my daughter was still in her pram before covid and in the first lockdown... but now she is at the stage where she will not sit in the pram and screams to walk... but is also big enough to yank away from my hand and run into the road so I do worry yes... when I have the two of them... I worry ill focus all my attention on her and something will happen to him. Particularly as its a main road I have to cross and then there's a river and then very steep paths up the valley... it does make me very anxious.
I couldn't even go up the valley when she was in her pushchair but I could stroll along the road all the way into the town centre. I dont go in the town centre now because of covid.

I must admit after watching the Whitty interview this morning, I am wondering whether to still meet a friend for a walk at the weekend. I know we're allowed but should we really do this if we can manage chatting on the phone or WhatsApp rather than in person

It isn't remotely the same as face to face (or side to side!) contact, but he's obviously managed to spook some people I know who won't meet people for exercise now. However, they can go out with their husbands to run. Maybe if my husband could run, I would only go out with him, too.

If Chris W thinks exercise is important, he shouldn't be saying things to put people off. Some people like going out on their own (or can go with family) but others need company.

@Unicant

Sounds difficult but would be irrespective of covid

If you are outdoors and observing social distancing the chances of anyone transmitting COVID is almost zero.

I don't live in London, but I have a walk or a run every day, apart from the two days a week I have to go to my workplace, when I walk to work (about 45min each way). I think it is important to get some fresh air and I do everything I can to stay 2m away from people, including walking up someone's drive if necessary (no-one has told me off yet). If it's absolutely not possible I'll lean over a wall or just lean away as much as possible and hold my breath for as long as possible while passing the person. I can't say I panic about that, and I haven't knowingly had Covid yet. I never meet anyone for exercise now. I never did run with other people because I'm too slow for everyone I know, but I would normally walk or swim with friends sometimes, and I used to go to a circuits class - all of which I don't mind missing out on for a while it it makes us all safer.

@Sethy38 not really... if it weren't for covid theres plenty of places i could take them.. theres a bus stop at the end of my road I could get the bus down into the town or into the city.. take them to soft play, go to the cafe, the big park..
The only thing we are allowed to do at the moment is go on walks and as I said altho I enjoy hiking as a family, my daughter is at the stage where its very difficult for me to go up that way and out into the countryside on my own with her and my son... id just be extremely stressed the entire time so I've just been waiting for the weekends and we all go as a family.
I think you'd understand if you saw where I live. We are lucky to be rural but its a very steep valley with these two rivers and my house opens out onto a main road. Because of covid we are supposed to not get on a bus so I'd have to walk up this main road and by the river and then up the steep sides of the valley.. honestly its a death trap and im not into it right now... especially with all the ice. So I've just been staying in doors through the week.

No choice, the dogs harassed me from 6am. I can’t NOT walk them, they’d go nuts and be absolute pests. They didn’t go out one day last week because I was on crutches and honestly thought my knee was going to break and my DH was self isolating. It wasn’t pretty. I’ve also got a horse, so again, not much choice. Given a choice and without animals, I think I’d happily veg out at home.