Why do so many people think exercise is the problem?

[Lookingforwardtomyeastereggs]

I'm so sick of people on here calling for complete lockdown. So hear me out.

My dh is still going out to work (non essential) and mixing with others, his employer have been slow to put measures in place. Yet they're still being allowed to operate.

The road round here are so busy again, all these cars can't be going on essential journeys. Neighbours are breaking the rules by going on car journeys with non household members. These are just a few examples.

Now I've completely stuck to the rules, haven't so much as been to a shop in weeks, I'm wfh with two dc, and the only time I leave the house is to walk, every other day, around where I live. I rarely see anyone, the streets are quiet.

Now how am I causing the problem here?

so asking people to forego it for a while would not be unreasonable or hazardous

But the fact is that no one has been asked to forego it for a while, and the reason for that is that is has been deemed to be more beneficial to people’s mental and physical health than the risk it poses, as long as people follow social distancing guidance.
Banning outdoor exercise completely would have the tiniest impact on the number of cases, if any at all.
Remember people are still going to work in non essential roles (if people are unable to work from home they are still permitted to go to work).

Apologies for taking the piss, iVampire

But for people who live in areas of low population density, there's really no benefit to staying in rather than going out.

I know outdoor exercise is currently allowed, and was not advising against.

I wanted to make the point that the concession could be withdrawn, because although it is highly desirable to be able to exercise outdoors, it’s not actually essential.

And it’s not so terrible to do without if that is the position you are put in for however many weeks

(I was in marathon training until this kicked off, so running for hours outdoors, so not exactly a stranger to the benefits!)

I’m sure people could and would cope. They’d have to. But the benefits of removing the daily exercise allowance would be negligible.

Ivampire my op was asking why people think that outdoor exercise is the problem. There are currently still lots of non essential businesses up and running. There are people flouting rules by mixing households.

Therefore whether or not you think outdoor exercise is essential, why do you believe it is contributing to the problem?

Or to put it simply

I’m sure people could and would cope. They’d have to. But the benefits of removing the daily exercise allowance would be negligible.

This ^

Yet people are getting their knickers in a twist about joggers spreading disease.

Quite how terrible staying indoors for weeks or months would be does depend somewhat on how many people of what ages and temperaments are living together, rather than on how sporty the individuals are.

The detrimental effects on eyesight are worst for individuals who haven't stopped growing physically, and the impact of vitamin D deficiency in children is also more severe than in adults - rickets, abnormal bone growth and motor skills delays being at the severe end of the scale but nevertheless results of lack of daylight.

Pregnant women need to produce enough vitamin D to prevent calcium deficiency in the foetus.

Post menopausal women are at increased risk of osteoporosis with insufficient sunlight.

We all need every advantage our immune system can get and lack of sunlight disadvantages the immune system for everyone.

Mental health issues obviously impact certain groups more - obviously firstly people with preexisting issues, young men, people living alone (but some are more resilient than others due to a mix of upbringing and temperament).

The advantages of actually banning people from going outside would be massively outweighed by the disadvantages.

Most things could be argued not to be essential - we'd all survive a month without any fruit and vegetables - but the disadvantages of forbidding an entire population something beneficial to their health will usually outweigh any hoped for advantages.

Because they see a few articles on the Daily Mail about runners or cyclists getting too close and think all us fitness freaks are behaving the same. Plus there is probably a hint of underlying envy too.

"Against the grain here but why is sunbathing so much of a problem? One person from a household goes for a walk, lays down their towel away from others for an hour peace and quiet? "

Vitamin D helps the immune system

Being out in the sun provides that and it also helps MH just to get outside 4 walls

Yes, it's best if you can exercise outside, but for people who are unfit / disabled - or just lazy -
an hour sitting in the sun is better than nothing

Here (Rhine) the elderly & disabled who are not shielding are encouraged to get out in the sun, even if they don't exercise

If you can't walk far, then walk to a bench, sit for a while. walk a little more, sit again, walk home

I was responding to ideas that were coming out in the thread generally

And pointing out that exercise outdoors despite being highly desirable (for reasons listed by several posters, all of which I agree with) is not essential and can be safely suspended - and indeed already has been for some.

So suspending the current concession to exercise daily outdoors is not a synonym for stopping exercise.

Also, I do not see that you can separate the concession for exercising outside from the actual way the public are using that concession, and it is clear that there are problems - too much crowding in places, too much grouping, sharing of kit, breaches of distancing etc. That is why the concession cannot be taken for granted, and a sunny Easter weekend is a particular issue - especially as peak has not yet been reached (and no sign restrictions can be lifted).

Maybe there will be no need to restrict further - it all rather depends on how those people who can still exercise outside use the concession - actually to exercise, or just as an excuse to go outdoors.

Postulating that using it as an excuse to go outdoors isn’t happening, or that clear and frequent breaches couldn’t have an impact on the exercise concession, strikes me as unhelpful.

It doesn’t matter how beneficial and innocuous exercise could be in theory, not when the number of breaches can lead (and has led) to closure of green spaces (beneficial exercise can take place just as well pavements).

Any encroachment ‘X is OK so I’ll do Y’ is really quite likely to lead to ‘people are doing Y, because ‘X only’ isn’t clear enough, so as X isn’t essential it’ll have to go, for a while at least’

I hate to see the promising early signs that the peak (in about a week or so?) might be the much-worked-for flatter one, vanish in 2-3 weeks with a post Easter second peak

(Yes I know that i’ve wandered over several points, but they are all linked, and that’s what happens in both conversations and threads)

iVampire going outdoors in and of itself has health benefits, separate from exercising. Going outdoors to sit alone, far from other people, benefits eye sight, the immune system, the nervous system, and calcium absorption without exercise being involved.

Exercise isn't more important than sunlight.

Yes, I have already posted that I know and agree it does, and that is why it is highly desirable. That is not a synonym for essential.

Furthermore the current concession is for exercise. Not provision for being outdoors.

(And getting sunlight directly through your eyeballs and onto your skin could be done from a window or from your front door, obviously moving out of the way of people arriving leaving if communal door)

(I’m not sure who you should lobby if you think there should be a further exemption just for going outside for the sake of being outside)

medium.com/@jurgenthoelen/belgian-dutch-study-why-in-times-of-covid-19-you-can-not-walk-run-bike-close-to-each-other-a5df19c77d08