If any lessons have been learned this year, it’s that there are many ways to keep fit while staying at home. And it's important to do so, as exercise can help boost your mood, improve the quality of your sleep and help support your immune system.

You should aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week — that’s about 20 to 25 minutes per day — or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.

Moderate exercise means an actvity that increases your heart rate, makes you feel warmer and makes you breathe faster. Vigorous exercise will make you breathe harder and faster, and may make it difficult to say more than a few words at a time.

You can exercise at home without any special equipment. Try:

• jumping jacks, star jumps and stair climbing to boost your heart rate
• lunges, push-ups and planks to help build your strength
• building a 10-minute circuit by doing a cardio exercise for 30 seconds, then a strength exercise for 3 minutes. Repeat the series 2 or 3 more times

You can make moderate activity more vigorous by increasing your effort.

And if you have kids, put on a disco at home to get the whole family moving. Dancing is an aerobic activity, which means it’s good for your heart.

But if you want something less intense, you can try gentler exercises to improve your balance and flexibility. For example, try:

• walking sideways
• walking heel-to-toe
• standing on 1 leg to improve your balance