Two Weeks off work, relaxing, Does that appeal?
Don’t be too eager, your holiday can do you more harm than good.
Just two weeks without exercise will cause muscle tissue to waste away and put inches on your waistline. In a recent experiment scientists at Liverpool University selected active people (walking 10,000 steps a day) and told them to move around less but eat the same meals. After only two weeks they each lost nearly one pound of muscle mass, mainly in the legs and on average gained 0.7 cms around the waist.
OK, you might say, you will catch up afterwards but the test also revealed more fatty molecules in the blood, which is linked to insulin resistance, leading to easier weight gain when back to normal activity levels. Two weeks is a typical holiday span, the researchers concluded this does not cause lasting damage if you get back into active routine quickly but what happens when you become inactive for three, four weeks, even longer six or eight weeks? Then this can lead to very significant clinical difference. So keep moving, even on holiday, good time to engage in exercise and physical activities with the family and you all benefit from improved health and fitness.