Your say / Cara Lavan
‘Getting fitter can make you feel better’
January is a time when lots of people decide they want to improve their fitness.
As a councillor with meetings at all times of day, including evenings, it can be hard to get into a good fitness routine.
I recently joined Everyone Active at Easton Leisure Centre with my 12-year-old son. It’s been challenging to persuade him to take part in out-of-school activities so, when he expressed an interest in the gym, I signed us both up.
is needed now More than ever
Children aged 12-15 are allowed to go there unaccompanied between 3.30-5.30pm on weekdays, after they’ve done an induction, so it gives my son the freedom to go with a friend if he chooses and it also provides us with an indoor activity we can do together.
As a member of the council’s public health and communities committee, I’ve become more aware than ever that the best way to improve both mental and physical health is through improving your fitness – and it’s something we are working as a city to encourage.
Cara recently joined Easton Leisure Centre – photo: Martin Booth
Fitness is proven to reduce stress, depression and anxiety and to lead to better sleep.
It can mean reduced risk of diseases including heart disease and stroke, dementia, Type 2 diabetes and even some cancers.
Exercise builds and maintains strong muscles and bones, which can help prevent injuries as you age.
This is especially important for menopausal women.
And, of course, it can help you maintain a healthy weight and improve your balance, which lowers your risk of falls and injuries as you age.
For those who don’t want to or can’t afford to join a gym there are other options – I was really pleased to see an outdoor gym installed in my ward at Meadow Vale Park after a long campaign by locals.
The outdoor gym at Meadow Vale Park is free for anyone to use – photo: Ellie Pipe
It’s a facility anyone can access for free and each piece of equipment has instructions on how to use it.
A lot of women struggle to exercise outdoors at this time of year because it gets dark so early; we have to think about safety.
The Steppin Sistas are a grassroots group of Black women who encourage an interest in walking.
They organise long and short walks aiming to help motivate Black women to visit places they would not have otherwise ventured to, including rural areas around Bristol and further afield.
The Steppin Sistas walking group was founded by Sophie Brown in 2021 – photo: Sophie Brown
It’s worth checking to see if there’s a walking or exercise group near you as new ones spring up all the time.
Easton Leisure Centre is due a refit of their gym equipment in 2025 and part of that will be the creation of a women-only space at the gym, which should make the facility more accessible to women.
There are so many ways to get fit. It’s about finding what works for you and what you can reasonably work into your everyday life.
Whether that’s walking or cycling, instead of driving, or even cleaning the house more vigorously.
This is an opinion piece by Cara Lavan, a Green Party councillor for St George Central
Main photo: Abi Finch
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