At Hale County Hospital, part of our mission is to improve the health & quality of life for citizens of Hale County and its surrounding communities. While we strive to provide high quality healthcare through services such as our award winning outpatient clinics (with locations in Greensboro and Moundville), our inpatient and outpatient physical therapy and rehab teams, our 5 star rated home health team, our emergency room, laboratory, and radiology departments, or in our beautifully remodeled hospital East Wing that provides inpatient care, 21 day rehab, and hospice care to make Hale County Hospital your hometown center for healthcare excellence in West Alabama, we also want to encourage healthy lifestyle habits our patients can pursue in their day-to-day lives.
As we enter the month of August, the Alabama heat and humidity does not seem to be going away anytime soon. The high temperatures nearing the triple digits can be a valid reason for many of us to be discouraged from seeking physical activity and exercise. Strenuous activity and/or physical exercise, especially without replenishing our bodies with water and electrolytes, can increase the risk of heatstroke. Luckily, there are alternative ways one can get their physical activity indoors, in a cooler environment and/or with air conditioning.
There are many forms of exercise you can pursue indoors. Yoga is a great form of exercise that is great for improving your flexibility and allows you to relieve stress. It is also low impact so it’s not as harsh on your joints as running can be, for example, and it can be easily adjusted for different levels of experience. Dancing and jumping rope are also great forms of exercise and ways to get cardio exercise in a smaller, enclosed space. Dancing can be a great way to enjoy your favorite music. There are also many different strength exercises that do not require equipment and focus on specific muscles in the body that you can do at home. “Shadow boxing” is another form of exercise you can do at home. It is a great upper body workout that focuses on performing boxing- like movements without the use of punching bags.
If you are unsure on how to pursue these forms of exercise on your own, there are luckily a lot of free resources to find workouts you can complete at home. You can find written workouts by searching on Google for workouts for the form of exercise you are interested in and include keywords such as “free,” “at home,” and/or “no equipment” to help find what you are looking for. You can also find instructional videos and video workouts through search on YouTube. There are also many free apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store where you can find at-home exercise resources and workouts to access on your phone or tablet. Even when working out indoors, remember to drink water or a beverage filled with electrolytes, such as Gatorade, to replenish fluids lost through sweat during exercise so you do not become dehydrated.
