By Mridu Khullar

If you're crunched for time, here are some quick and easy exercise ideas that you can include in your daily routine.

Being healthy isn't just about hitting the gym for hours every day, or being able to fit into your jeans. Regular exercise has many more benefits - lower risk of ailments such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, colon cancer and depression, as well as increased bone strength, higher energy levels and an overall sense of well being.

Split It Up
Instead of spending one hour at the gym, do six 10-minute workout sessions throughout the day. Try some slow stretches, leg crunches or lunges when you get up in the morning, during short breaks at work or while you're watching your favourite show on TV.

Walk Yourself
Take a brisk walk around the neighborhood before breakfast or after dinner. Even small increments of daily activity can burn body fat, and walking not only tones your hips, legs and lower back muscles, but also keeps you energised throughout the day.

Do A Jumping Jack
Borrow a skipping rope and start jumping. You'll be losing as much as 70 to 110 calories in only 10 minutes.

Sip Sip Sip
Dehydration will hinder your aerobic performance, so no amount of working out is going to help if you're not drinking enough fluid. Water helps you burn calories and digest fat, and most importantly, it detoxifies your system.

Fire The Maid
Studies suggest that women today are more overweight and less fit than women in the '50s. That's because we depend more on electronic appliances than doing work ourselves. Simple daily chores burn a large amount of calories. In fact, vacuuming for an hour burns 90 calories, gardening will kill 150 calories and cooking can actually burn up to 160 calories!

Get Outdoors
In your leisure time, opt for activities that excite you. Go to the park, walk the dog, plan picnics or do something more adventurous like hiking, rock-climbing, paddle boating or scuba diving.

Work It Off
Do some exercises at work too. Next time you find yourself picking up the phone to call a colleague, walk down to her office instead. Or if you're in the mood for a cup of coffee, go out and get it yourself.

Become The Delivery Person
Forget Internet shopping and ordering in. If you feel like grabbing a sandwich, walk to the nearest café instead of ordering on the phone. Similarly, if you need books or DVDs, walk down to the store and get whatever you need.

Hide The Remote
Don't be a channel-flicking couch potato. Ask someone to hide the remote so that whenever you need to use it, you'll have to go dig it out. Better yet, if you're spending more than half an hour parked in front of the TV, use a treadmill or stationary bike while you're at it.

Use The Stairs
At work or at the shopping mall, avoid taking the elevator. Opt for the stairs. Climbing up the stairs adds strength to your leg muscles and gives you a cardiovascular workout. Climbing down the stairs builds strength in the quadriceps and hamstrings. To burn over 200 calories at once, run up and down a flight of stairs as fast as you can. Two at a time if you're particularly brave. Do this every day in five-minute sessions.

Make It Family Time
Try to get your spouse and your kids to work out with you. Play catch or Frisbee with your kids, make fake microphones and dance to some music, or even run alongside your children as they learn to ride a bike. In fact, a recent study in Canada suggests that if you're active, your children are six times more likely to be active too.

Learn The Alphabet
For flexible ankles, trace the alphabet with your toes. Do this with both feet, one after the other. This is something that can be done anywhere - while waiting for someone, working on your computer or lying down on the couch.

Pick Up The Pace
Whatever you're doing, do it faster. So if you're doing the laundry, folding clothes, vacuuming the house or washing the car, speed it up just a notch. Just don't try it when slicing vegetables!

Meet Up With Friends
Instead of catching up over a cup of coffee, do it while playing tennis, taking aerobics lessons or learning salsa. Meet a couple of friends a few times a week and combine socialising with exercise.

Tone Your Legs
If you spend a lot of time sitting and working, you can try some leg exercises. Stretch out your toes forward and out slowly, away from your body, till you begin to feel a slight tension. Hold your position like that for half a minute. You could also try tightening your buttocks, rolling your neck 20 times in each direction, extending your arms over your head as much as possible and stretching or flexing your feet and ankles.