Do short trips count for cadio?
I'm supposed to do a certain amount of exercise every day for my own health reasons.
However, my mother is having some health problems and has just been released from the hospital. I've been tending to her and have been skipping some of the exercise.
We've had some good weather and she's had to have me run some small errands for her. Most of them involve going to a destination about a mile away for some small item, such as a prescription, getting a book from the library, mailing something, or at one point taking some transactions to her bank. All of which are about 1 mile away in various directions (well, the post office is only about 1/2 to 2/3 of a mile). I've been using my bike instead of the car for them to save gas and get my cardio.
Are these short trips, if you figure one per day enough to count for the minimum for some cardio, or do I need to try to work more in? They aren't as long as the doctor recommended as it doesn't take "at least 20 minutes of elevated heart rate, 45 preferable" to go that short a distance, but are they enough considering the situation?
Sorry if this the wrong forum and I should be asking in medical or exercise forum instead.