By Healthy Families Whanganui Rangitikei Ruapehu
Being active doesn't have to be about going to the gym or playing organised sport.
Take the opportunities to have a run around with the kids at the park, a walk around the Saturday morning markets, fly a kite or take the stairs instead of the elevator.
We have a number of great parks and recreation facilities across the district and many of our schools also have open gate policies for families to utilise the fields and playgrounds outside of school hours.
Weekend family time doesn't have to be popcorn and movies - why not pack a picnic, a bat and a couple of balls and walk, bike or scoot to the nearest park or school for a fun day out?
Our increasingly sedentary lifestyles often mean that instead of taking the huge number of opportunities every day to get active, many of us more often than not take the less active option.
How many of us drive up and down Victoria Ave to find the closest park to the shop we want to visit?
How many of us drive one minute to the dairy to save a 10-minute walk?
Many of us drive to and from work daily and often take more than one car from each household for further convenience.
Whanganui is lucky to be big enough to provide a number of opportunities, yet small enough that a long commute to work isn't a factor.
Our active transport rates could be much higher.
New developments in shared pathways around the city aim to increase the numbers of people both walking and biking daily by making the environment safer, more appealing and more easily accessible.
Get a group of people together from your office or workplace and decide collectively to bike to work for a week. Encourage the kids to do the same.
Map out with them the safest route to school and have a practice run with them during the weekend to reinforce road safety.
Find out which friends' houses they pass along the way and start a pick-up system to encourage other friends and family to participate.
The opportunities are there, they just need identifying and the environment is becoming more supportive.
However, all of this activity requires conscious decision-making and choosing to be more active, making small changes daily to make a long-term lifestyle change.
And healthy changes are easier to make if you're not doing it alone. Encourage friends, family and work colleagues to get active with you.
Support each other to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Join the movement
�If you are interested in ways to make healthy change in your life, check out the Healthy Families Whanganui Rangitikei Ruapehu website and join the movement to create a culture where the healthy choice is the easy choice where we live, learn, work and play. AS THE winter weather starts to change, people often find it easier to get motivated to be more physically active, when the sun is out it's usually not too hard to find a reason to get outside and enjoy it.